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BROOKLYN EAGLE 
LIBRARY, 

No. 81 

/ol. XVIII. No. 13. JULY, 1904. Price, SO Cents 


he Charter 


OF THE 



of New York 


Containing all the Amendments thereto passed by the State 
Legislature. Together with a history of Charter making. 


PUBLISHED BY THE 

BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE 


BROOKLYN-NEW YORK 





Iron Works 


Architectural and 
Ornamental 

Iron and 
Bronze 
Work 


Stairs, Railings. Gates, 
Lamps, Elevator Enclosures 
and Cars 

Marquees, Memorial Tablets 
Grilles, Guards, etc. 


Bronze-Plated Elevator Enclosures 

Frederick Loeser & Co.’s Stores, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Designed and executed by Hecla Iron Works. 


Fire-Proof Win 
dow Frames, 
Sashes, Doors, 
Stedr Construe 
tion, etc. 


FIRE PROOF STAIR CONSTRUCTION, 
LIGNOLITH TREADS / 
AND PLATFORMS. / 


FIRE PROOF WINDOW CONSTRUCTION, 
IN IRON, BRASS OR BRONZE 
COMBINED WITH LIGNOLITH. 


Alone or combined with i 

metaJ i 

Is light, strong, eco- , 

nomica.1 and Fire- ' 

proof 

Office and Works 1 

North 11th and Berry Streets j 

Brooklyn Borough, Heuu York City ! 


LIGNOLITH FIRE PROOr 
DOORS AND ARCHITRAVES. 


” sr- 1 

1 | 

i 

, _ 1 

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*7771 



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'<C: ' •••vd 

T~ ' r^-4 







The CHARTER 

OF THE 

City OF NewYork 

/ 

With Amendments of 1901 , 1902, 1903 and 1904. 


The Text of the First English Charter of NewYork City, 
with an Enumeration of Subsequent Charters. 


OFFICE OF PUBLICATION: 

EAGLE BUILDING, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. 


Entered at the Brooklyn-New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. Vol. XVIII, No. 13 of the Eagle Library. Serial 
No. 81, August, 1903. Trademark, “Eagle Library,” registered Yearly subscription, $1.00. Almanac Number, 50 cents. 


the Cong Island 
Coan and Crust Company 

“TEMPLE BAR” 

Corner Court and Joralemon Streets, Brooklyn. 


Trustee, Administrator, Etc 

Capital Surplus and Profits 

$ 2 , 450 , 000 . 00 . 



Transacts General 
Trust and 
Banking Business. 

Acts as Executor, 


Accounts of Individuals, Firms and Corporations 

Solicited. 

OFFICERS: 

EDWARD MERRITT, President, 

CLINTON L. ROSSITER, First Vice=President, 

DAVID G. LEGGET, Second Vice=President, 

FREDERICK T. ALDRIDGE, Secretary, 

WILLARD P. SCHENCK, Assistant Secretary. 

TRUSTEES: 

Seth L. Keeney, 

Frank L. Babbott, 

Theodore F. Jackson, 

John F. Halsted, 

David H. Valentine, 

Seymour L. Husted, Jr., Clinton D. Burdick, 

Walter St. John Benedict 


Henry F. Noyes, 

Clinton L. Rossiter, 
Martin Joost, 

John Englis, 

William V. Hester, 
Frederick T. Aldridge. 


William M. Ingraham, 
Edward D. White, 
Edward Merritt, 
Frank Lyman, 

David G. Legget, 


Contents. 


CHAPTER I. 

Boundaries, Boroughs, Powers, Rights 


and Obligations of the City 5 

CHAPTER II. 

Legislative Department 7 

CHAPTER III. 

Franchises and Grants of Land Under 
Water 13 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Executive 14 


CHAPTER XI. 

Departments of Water Supply, Gas and 
Electricity, Street Cleaning and 
Bridges 

CHAPTER XII. 

Department of Parks 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Public Charities 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Department of Correction 


CHAPTER XX. 

Page. 

Inferior Local Courts 

53 CHAPTER XXI. 

The Acquisilion of Lands and Interest 
Therein for Public Purposes 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Streets 

65 CHAPTER XXIII. 

General Statutes 

73 CHAPTER XXIV. 



14!) 

ir.3 


153 


CHAPTER V. 

The Mayor 15 

CHAPTER VI. 

Department of Finance 16 


CHAPTER XV. 

Fire Department 77 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Docks, Piers, Harbor, Port and Waters 87 


Provisions Relating to the Counties 


and Repeal Provisions 15S 

The First Schedule 361 

The Second Schedule 162 


CHAPTER VII. 

Law Department 31 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Police Department 33 

CHAPTER IX. 

Borough Officers 43 

CHAPTER X. 


Contracts and Local Improvements.... 49 


CHAPTER XVII. 

Taxes and Assessments * 95 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Department of Education 112 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Department of Health 124 

CHAPTER XIXa. 

Tenement House Department 139 


Sections to Remain in Force Until 
Changed by the Board of Aldermen.. 1C3 


The City of New York 169 

Miscellaneous Statistics 169 

The Public Schools 169 


Philosophy of the Charter and of 
Charter Making. By Hon. William 
C. DeWitt 178 


Preface. 


1ST preparing this work for the Brooklyn 
Eagle Library by inserting in their proper 
order, with reference to the chapter number 
of the amending act, the numerous amend- 
ments which have been enacted during the 
past three years, changing the Charter in 
many important respects, the compilers 
have been impressed with the complexity 
and scope of the laws necessary to govern 
the inhabitants of this city. Though the 
Charter was carefully revised in 1901, several amendments 
were found necessary and were passed that same year, 
during the comparatively short time the Legislature re- 
mained in session. In 1902 many further changes were 
needed and supplied, while during the session of the 
Legislature just ended still more new provisions were 
found to be necessary. This process of addition, ex- 
planation and elimination has suggested the thought that 
a word or two concerning the earliest English charters, 
which are still in force except where they have been 
superseded by subsequent acts, would be of interest. 

The first Charter of what is now New York City was 
granted by the legislative authority of Holland in 1650, 
and was conferred upon the people of New Amsterdam 
by Governor Stuyvesant on the second day of February, 
1653. 

On June 12, 1665, the following Charter was signed 
by Governor Nicolls, at Fort James, N. Y. From this 
instrument, shorter than many of the sections of tlip 


present Charter, covering little ground, and showing a 
lack of appreciation of the want such a work should fill, 
started the mass of law, complex, explicit to the slightest 
detail, but absolutely necessary, which all must examine 
who have dealings with the property, inhabitants or gov- 
ernment of Greater New York. 

Governor Nicolls’ Charter. 

Whereas, Upon mature deliberation and advice, I have 
found it necessary to discharge the form of government 
late in practice within this His Majesty’s town of New 
York, under the name and style of Schout, Burgomasters, 
and Schepens, which are not known or customary in any 
of His Majesty’s dominions. To the end that the course 
of justice for the future may be legally, equally and im- 
partially administered to all His Majesty’s subjects as 
well inhabitants as strangers. Know all men by these 
presents that I, Richard Nicolls, Deputy Governor to his 
Royal Highness, the Duke of York, by virtue of His 
Majesty’s letters patent, bearing date the 12th day of 
March in the sixteenth year of His Majesty’s reign, do 
ordain, constitute and declare that the inhabitants of 
New York, New Harlem and all other His Majesty’s sub- 
jects, inhabitants upon this island, commonly called and 
known by the name of Manhattan Island, are and shall 
be forever accounted, nominated and established as one 
body politic and corporate, under the government of a 
Mayor, Aldermen and Sheriff; and I do by these presents 
constitute and appoint, for one whole year, commencing 




4 


PREFACE. 


from the date hereof, and ending the 12th day of June, 
which shall be in the year of our Lord, 1666; Mr. Thomas 
Willet to be Mayor, Mr. Thomas De La Vail, Mr. Olaffe 
Stevenson, Mr. John Brugges, Mr. Cornelius Van Ruy- 
ven and Mr. John Lawrence to be Aldermen; and Mr. 
Allard Anthony to be Sheriff; giving and granting to 
them, the said Mayor and Aldermen, or any four of 
them, whereof the said Mayor or his Deputy shall be 
always one, and upon equal division of voices, to have 
always the casting and decisive voice, full power and 
authority to rule and govern as well all the inhabitants 
of this Corporation as any strangers, according to the 
general laws of this government, and such peculiar laws 
as are or shall be thought convenient or necessary for 
the good and welfare of this His Majesty’s Corporation; 
as also to appoint such under officers as they shall judge 
necessary for the ordinary execution of justice. And I 
do hereby strictly charge and command all persons to 
obey and execute, from time to time, all such warrants, 
orders and constitutions as shall be made by the said 
Mayor and Aldermen, as they will answer the contrary 
at their utmost peril; and for the due administration of 
justice according to the form and manner prescribed in 
this commission by the Mayor, Aldermen and Sheriff, 
these presents shall be to them, and every of them, 
a sufficient warrant and discharge in that behalf. 

Given under my hand and seal, at Fort James, in New 
York, this 12th day of June, 1665. 

BICHARD NICOLLS. 

On April 27, 1686, the Dongan Charter was granted. 
Its provisions are contained in several sections, and show 
that at this early date it was deemed necessary to have an 
instrument for the direction of the increasing number 
of the inhabitants of New York which would be more 
in detail and in which the power of government should 
be more carefully limited. 

The Cornbury Charter of April 19, 1708, embodying 
that of Queen Anne, followed, and is a return to the 
short, insufficient style of the instrument of Governor 
Nicolls. 

The need of some more explicit work, some body of 
law which would be a guide to the inhabitants of New 
York and an authority for their acts, was soon recog- 
nized, and led to the adoption of the Montgomerie Char- 
ter on January 15, 1730. 

This work far more nearly approached the present 
idea of what a charter of a great city should be, and its 
drafters endeavored to settle, by numerous provisions, 
the many doubtful questions which had arisen under the 
charters previously in force. It is interesting to note the 
certification at the end by B. Bradley, Attorney General, 
that, having read the charter he found nothing therein 
prejudicial to the interests of His Majesty. 

On October 14, 1732, it was enacted by the Governor, 
the Council and the General Assembly of the Colony of 
New York, that all the charters heretofore made and 
granted to the city be effectual in law, and ratifying the 
same. 

This law and the colonial charters are made part of 
the law of the State of New York by Section 16 of the 
State Constitution, which provides: “Such parts of 
the acts of the Legislature of the Colony of New York 
as did form the law of the said colony on the nineteenth 
day of April, one thousand seven hundred and seventy- 


five, which have not since expired or been repealed or 
altered, shall be and continue the law of this state, sub- 
ject to such alterations as the Legislature shall make 
concerning the same.” 

The first complete charter from the state was granted 
in 1813, and in 1830, and again in 1873, revised charters 
were passed. On July 1, 1882, the Consolidation act, 
embodying a complete revision of the New T ork City 
Charter, was passed, and remained in force until the 
beginning of the year 1898. 

The act which created the present greater city, 
passed over the vetoes of the Mayors of New York 
and Brooklyn, and became a law May 11, 1896, with 
the approval of the Governor. Pursuant to its 
provisions, Governor Levi P. Morton, on June 9, 
1896, appointed a commission to draft a Charter, 
the appointees being Seth Low, Benjamin F. Tracy, 
John F. Dillon, Ashbel P. Fitch, Stewart L. Woodford, 
Silas B. Dutcher, William C. De Witt, George M. Pin- 
ney, jr., and Harrison F. Moore. Thomas F. Gilroy was 
subsequently appointed in place of Ashbel P. Fitch, re- 
signed. Further members of this Commission by act of 
the Legislature were Andrew H. Green, president; Camp- 
bell W. Adams, State Engineer; Theodore E. Hancock, 
Attorney General; William L. Strong, Mayor of New 
York; Frederick W. Wurster, Mayor of Brooklyn; and 
Patrick J. Gleason, Mayor of Long Island City. 

Later in the same month the Commission met and de- 
cided upon the following officers: President, Benjamin F. 
Tracy; Secretary, George M. Pinney, jr.; William C. De- 
Witt, John F. Dillon, Thomas F. Gilroy, Seth Low, 
Andrew H. Green, Benjamin F. Tracy and George M. 
Pinney, jr., were chosen as a committee to draft the Char- 
ter. On February 13, 1897, this proposed Charter was 
submitted to the Legislature, the bill embodying it was re- 
ported by the Committee on Cities, with amendments, 
and it was finally passed by the Legislature, with the 
acceptance of the Mayors of Brooklyn and Long Island 
City, but without the acceptance 'of Mayor Strong. It 
became a law with the approval of the Governor, May 
4, 1897. ■ I j 

The next step in the development of the Charter was 
the result of an act passed by the Legislature and ap- 
proved by Governor Roosevelt, providing for the ap- 
pointment by the Governor of fifteen persons, who should 
report to the Legislature such proposed legislation as 
an examination into the working of the Charter, pre- 
viously adopted, might suggest. Governor Roosevelt ac- 
cordingly selected the following gentlemen to act upon 
this Commission: George L. Rives, George W. Davison, 
Franklin Bartlett, Charles C. Beaman, John D. Crim- 
mins, George Cromwell, William C. DeWitt, Frank J. 
Goodnow, Isaac M. Kapper, Edgar J. Levey, James 
McKeen, Alexander T. Mason, Charles A. Schieren, Henry 
W. Taft and James L. Wells. This Commission, with 
Mr. Rives, as President and Mr. Davison, Secretary, pre- 
sented a revision of the Charter in the form of an amen- 
datory act, which after some changes by committees of 
both Houses was passed by the Legislature, vetoed by the 
Mayor of New York, repassed by the Legislature, and ap- 
proved by the Governor on April 22, 1901. This new 
Charter went into effect January 1, 1902, and is known 
as Chapter 466 of the Laws of 1901. 

In revising the great mass of law contained in the 
Charter, in the year of the two hundred and fiftieth anni- 
versary of the founding of the city, it seemed particu- 
larly appropriate to refer to these sources and founda- 
tions of its system of government. 


THE CHARTER 


OF THE 

CITY OF NEW YORK, 

Chapter 466, Laws of *90*, 

WITH AMENDMENTS OF *901, *902 AND *903. 


AN ACT 

To Amend the Greater New York 
Charter, 

Chapter three hundred and seventy-eight of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven, entitled "An act to unite into one 
municipality under the corporate name of 
the City of New York, the various commu- 
nities lying in and about New York Har- 
bor. including the City and County of New 
York, the City of Brooklyn and the County 
of Kings, the County of Richmond and 
part of the County of Queens, and to pro- 
vide for the government thereof.” 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW 
YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE 
AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOL- 
LOWS: 

Section 1. Chapter three hundred and sev- 
enty-eight of the laws of eighteen hundred 
and ninety-seven, entitled “An act to unite 
into one municipality under the corporate 
name of The City of New York, the various 
communities lying in and about New York 
harbor, including the City and County of 
New York, the City of Brooklyn and the 
County of Kings, the County of Richmond 
and part of the County of Queens, and to 
provide for the government thereof,” is here- 
Dy amended so as to read as follows: 

CHAPTER I. 

BOUNDARIES. BOROUGHS. POWERS. 
RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE 
CITY. 

The City of New York; corporations; 
consolidated; territories; short title 
of this act. 

Sec. 1. All the municipal and public cor- 
porations and parts of municipal and public 
corporations, including cities, villages, towns 
and school districts, but not Including coun- 


ties, within the following territory, to wit: 
The County of Kings, the County of Rich- 
mond, the City of Long Island City, the 
towns of Newtown, Flushing and Jamaica, 
and that part of the former Town of Hemp- 
stead as it existed on the thirty-first day of 
December, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven, bounded on the east and north by the 
east and north bounds of the former Vil- 
lage of Far Rockaway, and on the east by a 
line drawn due north from the northwest 
corner of said village to the south line of 
the Town of Jamaica, as it existed on the 
thirty-first day of December, eighteen hun- 
dred and ninety-seven, are hereby annexed 
to, united and consolidated with the munici- 
pal corporation known as the mayor, aider- 
men and commonalty of the City of New 
York, to be hereafter called "The City of 
New York”; and the boundaries, jurisdic- 
tions and powers of the said City of New 
York herein constituted, are for all purposes 
of local administration and government 
hereby declared to be co-extensive with the 
territory above described; and the said City 
of New York is hereby declared to be the 
successor corporation in law and in fact 
of all the municipal and public corporations 
united and consolidated as aforesaid, with 
all their lawful rights and powers, and sub- 
ject to all their lawful obligations, with- 
out diminution or enlargement except as 
herein otherwise specially provided; and 
all of the duties and powers of the several 
municipal and public corporations united and 
consolidated as aforesaid into The City of 
New York are hereby devolved upon the 
board of aldermen of the said City of New 
York, so far as the same are applicable to 
said city, and not herein otherwise spe- 
cially provided, to be exercised in accord- 
ance with the provisions of this act. This 
act may be cited by the short title of “The 
Greater New York Charter.” 

Division into Boroughs. 

Sec. 2. The City of New York, as con- 
stituted by this act, is hereby divided into 


five boroughs to be designated respectively: 
Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens 
and Richmond; the boundaries whereof shall 
be as follows: 

First — The Borough of Manhattan shall 
consist of all that portion of The City of 
New York, as hereby constituted, kno-wn 
as Manhattan Island. Nuttin or Governor’s 
Island, Bedloe’s Island, Bucking or Ellis 
Island, the Oyster Islands, and also Black- 
well’s Island, Randall’s Island and Ward’s 
Island in the East or Harlem rivers. 

Second — The Borough of The Bronx shall 
consist of all that portion of The City of 
New York, as hereby constituted, lying 
northerly or easterly of the Borough of Man- 
hattan, between the Hudson river and the 
East river or Long Island Sound, including 
the several islands belonging to the munici- 
pal corporation heretofore known as the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the 
City of New York, not included in the Bor- 
ough of Manhattan. 

Third — The Borough of Brooklyn shall 
consist of that portion of The City of New 
York, as hereby constituted, hitherto known 
as the City of Brooklyn. 

Fourth — The Borough of Queens shall con- 
sist of the territory known as Queens 
County. 

Fifth — The Borough of Richmond shall 
consist of the territory known as Richmond 
County. 

Name; powers mid rights ol the cor- 
poration; seal. 

Sec. 3. The name of the corporation 
constituted by this act shall be “Tho 
City of New York,” and the same 
shall by that name, be a body politic 
and corporate in fact and in law with 
power to contract and to be contracted with, 
to sue and be sued, to have a common seal 
and to have perpetual succession, with all of 
the rights, properties, interests, claims, de- 
mands, grants, powers, privileges and juris- 
dictions neld by the mayor, aldermen and 


6 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


commonalty of the city of New York, and 
held by each of the municipal and public cor- 
porations or parts thereof, other than coun- 
ties, by this act united and consolidated with 
the corporation known as the mayor, aider- 
men and commonalty of the city of New 
York, except so far as modified or repealed 
by the provisions of this act. 

Local government! board of aldermens 
liabilities of corporations consoli- 
dated. 

Sec. 4. For all purposes the local adminis- 
tration and government of the people and 
property within the territory hereby comprised 
within The City of New York shall be in and 
be exercised by the corporation aforesaid; 
and the board of aldermen as in this act con- 
stituted, subject to the conditions and pro- 
visions of this act, shall exercise all the 
powers vested in the corporation of The City 
of New York by this act or otherwise, save 
as in this act is otherwise specially provided. 
All valid and lawful charges and liabilities 
now existing against any of the municipal 
or public corporations or parts thereof, 'which 
by this act are made part of th,e corporation 
of The City of New York, including the county 
of Kings and the county of Richmond, or 
which may hereafter arise or accrue against 
such municipal and public corporations, or 
parts thereof, including the said counties of 
Kings and of Richmond, which but for this 
act would be valid and lawful charges or 
liabilities against the same, shall be deemed 
and taken to be like charges against or lia- 
bilities of the said The- City of New York, 
and shall accordingly be defrayed and an- 
swered unto by it to the same extent, and 
no further, than the said several constitu- 
ent corporations would have been bound if 
this act had not been passed. All bonds, 
stocks, contracts and obligations of the said 
municipal and public corporations, including 
the county of Kings and the county of Rich- 
mond, and such proportion of the debt of the 
county of Queens and of the town of Hemp- 
stead as shall be ascertained as hereinafter 
prescribed, which now exist as legal obliga- 
tions, shall be deemed like obligations of The 
City of New York, and all such obligations 
as are authorized or required to be hereafter 
issued or entered into, shall be issued or 
entered into by and in the name of the cor- 
poration of The City of New York. 

Laws relating- to tlie creation and pay- 
ment of debts to remain In force; 
common debt; taxation. 

Sec. 5. All laws, or parts of laws, hereto- 
fore passed creating any debt or debts of the 
municipal and public corporations united and 
consolidated as aforesaid, or for the payment 
•f such debts, or respecting the same, as well 
M every such law respecting the debts of the 
corporation known as the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of the city of New York, shall 
remain in full force and effect, except that 
the same shall be carried out by the corpora- 
tion hereby constituted, to wit: The City of 
New York, and under such name and in such 
form and manner as may be suitable to the 
administration of said corporation; and all 
the pledges, taxes, assessments, sinking 
funds, and other revenues and securities pro- 
vided by law for the payment of the debts of 
the municipal and public corporations afore- 
said, shall be in good faith enforced, main- 
tained and carried out by the corporation of 
The City of New York. All the valid debts 
of the municipal and public corporations 
mentioned in the first section of this act, 
including the county of Kings and the coun- 
ty of Richmond and the proportion of the 
debt of the county of Queens and of the town 
•f Hempstead aforesaid, and the valid debts 


of the towns, incorporated villages and 
school districts herein united and consoli- 
dated with the corporation heretofore known 
as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of 
the city of New York into The City of New 
York, as well as the debts of the latter cor- 
poration, shall be the common debt of The 
City of New York, as hereby constituted. 
So far as resort to taxation is authorized or 
necessary to pay such debts, such taxation 
shall extend equally throughout the terri- 
tory of the corporation herein constituted, 
except that all assessments for benefits, here- 
tofore laid or provided to be laid for the 
payment of any portion of such debts, or to 
reimburse any of the said municipal and 
public corporation^ which created such debt, 
in respect thereof, shall be preserved and 
enforced, it being the intent hereof that the 
obligations and liability of The City of New 
York, as the successor of municipalities and 
public corporations consolidated into it, shall 
be the same as, and not otherwise greater 
than, the respective obligations and liabilities 
of the several ccrstituent corporations, and 
that The City of New York shall succeed 
to all of their rights as well as to their ob- 
ligations and liabilities in respect thereof, 
except as herein otherwise specially pro- 
vided. 

Effect where only a part of a corpora- 
tion is annexed. 

Sec. 6. Where part only of the territory 
of a municipal or public corporation is em- 
braced by this act within the limits of The 
City of New York, as herein constituted, the 
respective rights, duties and liabilities of 
the said city and of the municipal or public 
corporations pare of whose territory is so 
annexed to the said city, shall be as in this 
act provided, ir any case shall arise for 
which this act does not make provision, or 
full and adequate provision arising out of 
such annexation, or out of the consolidation 
herein provided for. the board of aldermen 
may by ordinance make provision for such 
case, or for its equitable determination, so 
far as concerns The City of New York. 

Same subject; creation of debt. 

Sec. 7. No municipal or public corporation, 
part of whose territory is annexed to The 
City of New York, shall hereafter create any 
debt which shall bind property within The 
City of New York, nor shall such municipal 
or public corporation levy any tax or assess- 
ment upon property within The City of New 
York, as herein constituted. 

Transfer of property; counties not to 

become indebted. 

Sec. 8. In consideration of the foregoing 
provisions whereby The City of New York, 
as hereby constituted, assumes as aforesaid 
the valid debts, obligations and liabilities of 
the municipal and public corporations includ- 
ing the counties, towns, incorporated villages 
and school districts as aforesaid, and to carry 
out the scheme and purpose of this act, all 
of the public buildings, institutions, public 
parks, water works and property of every 
character and description, whether of a pub- 
lic or private nature, heretofore owned and 
controlled by any of the said municipal and 
public corporations or parts thereof, hereby 
consolidated into The City of New York, in- 
cluding any and all such property owned by 
the county of New York, the county of 
Kings, and the county of Richmond, wherever 
situated, and by the county of Queens situ- 
ated in that portion thereof, which is includ- 
ed within the limits of The City of New 
York, as constituted by this act, and all the 
right, title and interest of the said municipal 
and public corporations and counties as 
aforesaid, or any of them, in and to such 


property, are hereby vested in The City of 
New York and divested out of the said 
corporations and counties, and the power of 
said municipal and public corporations and 
of the said counties of New York, Kings, 
Queens and Richmond to become indebted, 
shall cease upon the consummation and tak- 
ing effect of the consolidation herein pro- 
vided for. 

Former funds; payable to The City of 

New York. 

Sec. 9. All funds and moneys which, on the 
first day of January, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight, shall be held by or be payable 
to the receiver of taxes or the county treas- 
urer of the county of Richmond, or to any 
officer of any of the municipal and public 
corporations, or parts of municipal and pub- 
lic corporations, hereby consolidated with 
the corporation heretofore known as the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York, as well as all funds and 
moneys then held by or payable to any of- 
ficer of said last-earned corporation, shall be 
deemed to be held by and be payable to the 
corporation of The City of New York, con- 
stituted by this act, solely as the funds and 
moneys of said corporation, and upon the day 
aforesaid shall be delivered to the officer of 
said corporation entitled by this act to hold 
and control the same. All taxes levied against 
the town of Hempstead in the year eighteen 
hundred and ninety-seven shall be collect- 
ible and payable according to the provisions 
of the existing laws. 

Expenses of tbe city for tbe years 1898 

and 1902. 

Sec. 10. In the year eighteen hundred and 
ninety-seven it shall be the duty of the 
proper authorities of the various municipal 
and public corporations consolidated by this 
act into the city of New York, to prepare a 
budge't for the year eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight, as required by existing law, 
and to levy taxes for the year eighteen hun- 
dred and ninety-seven, as required by ex- 
isting law, as though such municipal and 
public corporations were not to be consoli- 
dated into the city of New York; and in so 
far as such taxes shall remain uncollected 
on the first day of January, eighteen hun- 
dred and ninety-eight, they shall become 
valid liens due to the corporation by this 
act constituted, and shall be collected by it 
through the appropriate officers of the city 
of New York, as hereby constituted, pursu- 
ant in all respects to the laws under which 
said taxes were levied and were to be col- 
lected. On and after January first, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-eight, the funds re- 
ceived by the chamberlain of the city of New 
York, under this act, and the proceeds of 
revenue bonds issued in anticipation of the 
taxes for the year eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight in the city of New York, as 
constituted prior to the passage of this act, 
and the proceeds of the tax levy therein of 
the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
may be used for the expenses of the city of 
New York, as constituted by this act, in 
such manner as the board of estimate and 
apportionment for that year may determine; 
and it shall be the duty of the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment to apportion the 
said funds to the various city departments 
as created by this act, so that such funds 
shall be used, as nearly as may be, for the 
objects for which they were .raised. The 
board of estimate and apportionment, during 
the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
shall have power to direct the issue of reve- 
nue bonds of the city of New York, to be re- 
deemed out of the tax to be paid in the year 
eighteen hundred and ninety-nine for such 


THE CHARTER OP THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


7 


purposes and in such amounts as may be 
necessary to provide for the efficient conduct 
of the city in all its departments, during the 
year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, pro- 
vided that the sums so raised in the year 
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight shall be 
subject to be raised by taxation upon the 
various boroughs on the basis elsewhere pro- 
vided in this act. Between January first and 
May first in the year nineteen hundred and 
two the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment shall have power from time to time to 
alter, modify and amend the budget for the 
year nineteen hundred and two; to change 
the titles, terms and conditions of appropri- 
ations contained therein; to add new appro- 
priations and to abolish any that may be 
found unnecessary; and also upon the rec- 
ommendation of the mayor or any borough 
president or head of any department, bureau, 
office, board or commission of the city of 
New York or of any of the counties em- 
braced therein, to fix salaries in any of 
said offices, departments, bureaus, boards 
or commissions; and in furtherance of these 
purposes or any of them shall have the 
power, if additional funds be required, to 
direct the comptroller to issue special reve- 
nue bonds, redeemable from the tax levy of 
the year nineteen hundred and three. — As 
amended by laws of 1902, Chapter 436. 

CHAPTER II. 

LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 
Legislative power; where vested. 

Sec. 17. The legislative power of The City 
of New York shall be vested in one house 
to be known and styled as “The Board of 
Aldermen of The City of New York.” 

Board of aldermen: president: quor- 
um; salaries; vacancies, how filled. 

Sec. 18. The board of aldermen shall con- 
sist of members elected one from each of 
the aldermanic districts hereinafter provided 
for and of the president of the board of aider- 
men and of the presidents of the several 
boroughs. The president of the board of 
aldermen shall be chosen on a general ticket 
by the qualified voters of the city at the 
same time and for the same term as herein 
prescribed for the mayor. He shall be known 
as the president of the board of aldermen, 
and shall, except as herein provided, pos- 
sess all the rights, privileges and powers, and 
perform the duties which on December thirty- 
first, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, 
were conferred or imposed by law upon the 
president of the board of aldermen of the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of The 
City of New York. The aldermen shall be 
elected at the general election in the year 
nineteen hundred and one, and every two 
years thereafter. The term of office of each 
member of the board of aldermen shall com- 
mence on the first day of January after his 
election, and shall continue for two years 
thereafter. The phrase, all the members of 
the board of aldermen, wherever used in this 
act, shall be taken and held to mean all the 
members of said board, including the presi- 
dent of the board of aldermen and the presi- 
dents of the several boroughs. The phrase, 
members elected to the board of aldermen, 
wherever used in this act, shall be taken 
and held to mean all the members of said 
board, except the president of the board of 
aldermen and the presidents of the sev- 
eral boroughs. Any vacancy which may oc- 
cur among the members elected to the board 
of aldermen shall be filled by election by a 
majority of all the members elected there- 
to, of a person who must be of the same 
political party as the member whose place 


has become vacant; and the person so elect- 
ed to fill any such vacancy shall serve for 
the unexpired portion of the term. A ma- 
jority of all the members of the board of 
aldermen shall constitute a quorum. The 
salary of the president of the board shall 
be five thousand dollars a year, and the sala- 
ries of the aldermen shall be one thousand 
dollars a year. 

Aldermanic Districts. 

Sec. L9. The City of New York is hereby 
divided into seventy-three aldermanic dis- 
tricts as follows: Each of the assembly dis- 
tricts lying wholly or in part within said ter- 
ritory as the same existed on the first day of 
January, one thousand nine hundred and one, 
shall constitute a separate aldermanic dis- 
trict except as herein provided; the twenty- j 
first assembly district of the county of New 
York is hereby divided into two aldermanic 
districts as follows: That portion of the 
twenty-first assembly district bounded on the 
north by West One Hundred and First street 
from the Hudson river to Amsterdam ave- 
nue, to West One Hundred and Second street 
to Central Park west; on the south by West 
Eighty-ninth street from the Hudson river 
to Amsterdam avenue, to West Eighty-sixth 
street to Columbus avenue, to West Eighty- 
first street to Central Park west; on the west 
by the Hudson river from West Eighty- 
ninth street to West One Hundred and First 
street; on the east by Central Park west from 
West Eighty-first street to West One Hun- 
dred and Second street shall constitute a sep- 
arate aldermanic district, and that portion 
of the said twenty-first assembly district 
bounded on the north by West One Hundred 
and Nineteenth street from the Hudson river 
to Broadway, to West One Hundred and 
Twentieth street to Seventh avenue, to West 
One Hundred and Tenth street to Fifth ave- 
nue; on the south by West One Hundred and 
First street from the Hudson river to Am- 
sterdam avenue, to West One Hundred and 
Second street to Central Park west to West 
Ninety-seventh street across the Central 
Park to Fifth avenue; on the west by the 
Hudson river from West One Hundred and 
First street to W r est One Hundred and Nine- 
teenth street; on the east by Fifth avenue 
from West Ninety-seventh street to West 
One Hundred and Tenth street shall consti- 
tute a separate aldermanic district. The 
twenty-third assembly district of the county 
of New York is hereby divided into two al- 
dermanic districts as follows: That portion 
of the twenty-third assembly district bound- 
ed on the north by West One Hundred and 
Forty-third street from the Hudson river to 
Seventh avenue, to the Harlem river to Fifth 
avenue; on the south by West One Hundred 
and Nineteenth street from the Hudson river 
to Broadway, to West One Hundred and 
Twentieth street to Eighth avenue, to West 
One Hundred and Thirty-fourth street to 
Fifth avenue; on the west by the Hudson 
river from West One Hundred and Nine- 
teenth street to West One Hundred and 
Forty-third street; on the east by Fifth ave- 
nue from West One Hundred and Thirty- 
fourth street to the Harlem river shall con- 
stitute a separate aldermanic district, and 
that portion of the said twenty-third assem- 
bly district bounded on the north by the Har- 
lem river from the Hudson river to Spuyten 
Duyvil creek to the Harlem river; on the 
south by West One Hundred and Forty-third 
street from the Hudson river to Seventh ave- 
nue; on the west by the Hudson river from 
West One Hundred and Forty-third street 
to the Harlem river; on the east by the 
Harlem river from Spuyten Duyvil creek to 


Seventh avenue shall constitute a separate 
aldermanic district. The thirty-first assem- 
bly district of the county of New York is 
hereby divided into two aldermanic districts 
as follows: That portion of the said thirty- 
first assembly district bounded oh the north 
by West One Hundred and Twenty-second 
street from Eighth avenue to Lenox avenue, 
to West One Hundred and Twenty-sixth 
street, to East One Hundred and Twenty- 
sixth street and Park avenue; on the south 
by West One Hundred and Twentieth street 
from Eighth avenue to Seventh avenue; to 
West One Hundred and Tenth street, to East 
One Hundred and Tenth street and Park ave- 
nue; on the west by Eighth avenue from 
West One Hundred and Twentieth street to 
West One Hundred and Twenty-second 
street; on the east by Park avenue from 
East One Hundred and Tenth street to Ea3t 
One Hundred and Twenty-sixth street shall 
constitute a separate aldermanic district, and 
that portion of said thirty-first assembly dis- 
trict bounded on the north by West One Hun- 
dred and Thirty-fourth street from Eighth 
avenue to Fifth avenue, to East One Hundred 
and Twenty-ninth street to Park avenue; 
on the south by West One Hundred and 
Twenty-second street from Eighth avenue to 
Lenox avenue, to West One Hundred and 
Twenty-sixth street, to East One Hundred 
and Twenty-sixth street and Park avenue; 
on the west by Eighth avenue from West One 
Hundred and Twenty-second street to West 
One Hundred and Thirty-fourth street; on 
the east by Park avenue from East One Hun- 
dred and Twenty-sixth street to East One 
Hundred and Twenty-ninth street shall con- 
stitute a separate aldermanic district. The 
thirty-fourth assembly district of the county 
of New York is hereby divided into two alder- 
manic districts as follows: That portion of 
the said thirty-fourth assembly district which 
lies within the borough of Manhattan and is 
known as part of the twelfth ward of said 
borough shall constitute a separate alder- 
manic district, and that portion of said 
thirty-fourth assembly district including 
North Brother Island which lies within the 
borough of The Bronx and is known as part 
of the twenty-third ward of said borough 
shall constitute a separate aldermanic dis- 
trict. The thirty-fifth assembly district of 
the county of New York is hereby divided 
into four aldermanic districts as follows: 
That portion of said thirty-fifth assembly 
district bounded on the north by the south- 
ern boundary line of the forty-second and 
forty-third election districts as constituted 
on the first day of January, nineteen hundred 
and one, from the Hudson river to Jerome ave- 
nue; on the south by East One Hundred and 
Forty-ninth street from the Harlem river 
to Park avenue, to East One Hundred and 
Fiftieth street to Morris avenue; on the west 
by the Harlem river from East One Hundred 
and Forty-ninth street to Spuyten Duyvil 
creek to Harlem river, to Hudson river, to 
the southern boundary line of the forty- 
second election district as constituted on the 
first day of January, nineteen hundred and 
one; on the east by Park avenue from East 
One Hundred and Forty-ninth street to East 
One Hundred and Fiftieth street to Morris 
avenue, to Park avenue, to Webster avenue, 
to Saint Paul’s place, to Third avenue, to 
East One Hundred and Seventy-fifth street, 
to Batbgate avenue, to East One Hundred 
and Seventy-seventh street to Park avenue, 
to Webster avenue, to East Two Hundredth 
street, to Jerome avenue, to the southern 
boundary of the forty-third election district 
as constituted on the first day «f January, 


8 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 


nineteen hundred and one, shall constitute 
r separate aldermanic district, and that por- 
tion of the said thirty-fifth assembly dis- 
trict bounded on the north by Saint Paul’s 
place from Webster avenue to Pulton ave- 
nue; on the south by East One Hundred 
end Forty-sixth street from Park avenue to 
Third avenue, to East One Hundred and 
Forty-ninth street to Beach avenue; on the 
west by Park avenue from East One Hun- 
dred and Forty-sixth street to East One 
Hundred and Fiftieth street to Morris ave- 
nue, to Park avenue, to Webster avenue, to 
Saint Paul’s place; on the east by Beach 
avenue from East One Hundred and Forty- 
ninth street to Westchester avenue, to Union 
avenue, to East One Hundred and Sixty- 
first street to Eagle avenue, to East One 
Hundred and Sixty-third street, to Third 
avenue, to Franklin avenue, to Fulton ave- 
nue. to Saint Paul’s place, shall constitute 
a separate aldermanic district, and that por- 
tion of the said thirty-fifth assembly district 
bounded on the north by the boundary line 
between the twenty- third and twenty-fourth 
wards from Fulton avenue to the Bronx 
river; on the south by East One Hundred and 
Forty-ninth street from Beach avenue to Long 
Island sound, to the Bronx river; on the 
west by Beach avenue from East One Hun- 
dred and Forty-ninth street to Westchester 
avenue, to Union avenue, to East One Hun- 
dred and Sixty-first street to Eagle avenue, 
to East One Hundred and Sixty-third street 
tc Third avenue, to Franklin avenue, to Ful- 
ton avenue, to Saint Paul’s place or boun- 
dary line between the twenty-third and 
twenty-fourth wards; on the east by the 
Bronx river from Long Island sound to the 
boundary line between the twenty-third and 
twenty-fourth wards shall constitute a sep- 
arate aldermanic district, and that portion 
of the said thirty-fifth assembly district 
bounded on the Dorth by the New York city 
line from the Hudson river to the Bronx 
river; on the south by the southern boun- 
dary line of the forty-second and forty-third 
election districts as constituted on the first 
day of January, nineteen hundred and one. 
from the Hudson river to Jerome avenue, 
and the boundary line between the twenty- 
third and twenty-fourth wards from Third 
avenue to the Bronx river; on the west by 
the Hudson river from the southern boun- 
dary of the forty-second election district as 
constituted on the first day of January, nine- 
teen hundred and one, to the New York city 
line, and by Third avenue from the boundary 
line between the twenty-third and twenty- 
fourth wards to East One Hundred and Sev- 
enty-fifth street, to Bathgate avenue, to East 
One Hundred and Seventy-seventh street to 
Park avenue, to Webster avenue, to East Two 
Hundredth street, to Jerome avenue, to 
southern boundary of the forty-third elec- 
tion district as constituted on the first day 
of January, nineteen hundred and one; on 
the east by the Bronx river from the boun- 
dary line between the twenty-third and twen- 
ty-fourth wards shall constitute a separate 
aldermanic district. Chester, as designated 
in section four hundred and twenty-five of 
this act, being such portions of the first and 
second assembly districts of the county of 
Westchester as lie within The City of New 
York, is hereby divided into two aldermanic 
districts as follows: That portion of said 
Chester which is bounded on the north by the 
New York city lines; on the south by the 
old Boston post road from the Bronx river 
to Fordham and Pelham avenue (Bronx and 
Pelham park way) to Westchester creek; on 


the west by the Bronx river from the old 
Boston post road to the New York city line; 
on the east by Westchester creek, Givan's 
creek and Hutchinson’s river to the New 
York city line formerly known as parts of 
former towns of Eastchester and Westches- 
ter of the county of Westchester, shall con- 
stitute a separate aldermanic district, and 
that portion of said Chester which is bound- 
ed on the north by the old Boston post road 
from the Bronx river to Fordham and Pel- 
ham avenue, (Bronx and Pelham park way), 
to Westchester creek, to Givan’s creek, to 
Hutchinson’s river, to the New York city 
line to Long Island sound; on the south by 
Long Island sound; on the west by the 
Bronx river from the old Boston post road 
to Long Island sound; on the east by Long 
Island sound, including the islands which lie 
within The City of New York belonging to 
the former town of Pelham, and which parts 
were formerly known as the towns of West- 
chester and Pelham of the county of West- 
chester, shall constitute a separate alder- 
manic district. New Utrecht, as designated 
in section four hundred and twenty-five of 
this act, being the seventh assembly district 
of the county of Kings, and known as a por- 
tion of the eighth, thirtieth and thirty-first 
wards of the borough of Brooklyn, is hereby 
divided into two aldermanic districts as 
follows: That portion of said New Utrecht 
which is known as a portion of the eighth 
ward of the borough of Brooklyn, which lies 
within the seventh assembly district of the 
county of Kings, shall constitute a separate 
aldermanic district, and that portion of 
said New Utrecht which is known as the 
thirtieth and thirty-first wards of the 
borough of Brooklyn which lies within the 
seventh assembly district of the county of 
Kings shall constitute a separate aldermanic 
district. Newtown, as designated in section 
four hundred and twenty-five of this act, 
being the first assembly district of the coun- 
ty of Queens, is hereby divided into two al- 
dermanic districts as follows: That portion 
of said Newtown which was heretofore 
known as Long Island City, being the first 
ward of the borough of Queens, shall con- 
stitute a separate aldermanic district, and 
that portion of the said Newtown which 
was heretofore known as the town of New- 
town, being the second ward of said bor- 
ough of Queens, shall constitute a separate 
aldermanic district. Jamaica, as designated 
in section four hundred and twenty-five of 
this .act, being the second assembly district 
of the county of Queens, and so much of 
the third assembly district of said county 
as lies within the city of New York is hereby 
divided into two aldermanic districts as fol- 
lows: That porton of said Jamaica which 
was heretofore known as the town of Flush- 
ing, being the third ward of the borough of 
Queens, shall constitute a separate alderman- 
ic district and that portion of said Jamaica 
which was heretofore known as the town 
of Jamaica, being the fourth ward of said 
borough of Queens, together with that por- 
tion of said Jamaica which comprises that 
portion of the third assembly district of the 
county of Queens as lies within the City of 
New York, and which was heretofore known 
as part of the town of Hempstead, being the 
fifth ward of said borough of Queens, shall 
constitute a separate aldermanic district. 
Staten Island, as designated in section four 
hundred and twenty-five of this act, being 
the county of Richmond, is hereby divided 
into three aldermanic districts as follows: 
That portion of said Staten Island which was 
heretofore known as the town of Castleton, 


being the first ward of the borough of Rich- 
mond, shall constitute a separate aldermanic 
district, and those portions of said Staten 
Island which weTe heretofore known as the 
towns of Middletown and Southfield, being 
the second and fourth wards of said borough 
of Richmond, shall together constitute a sep- 
arate aldermanic district, and those portions 
of said Staten Island which were heretofore 
known as the towns of Northfield and West- 
field, being the third and fifth wards of said 
borough of Richmond, shall together consti- 
tute a separate aldermanic district. In case 
the board of elections or any lawful authori- 
ty shall hereafter alter the boundaries of 
any of the election districts into which The 
City of New York is divided at the time of 
the passage of this act, such alterations shall 
be so made that no election district shall con- 
tain portions of any two aldermanic districts. 
The board of elections of the City of New 
York shall within thirty days after the pas- 
sage of this act cause to be fiied in the 
office of the clerks of the counties of New 
York, Kings, Queens and Richmond, a de- 
scription of each of said aldermanic districts 
specifying the number of each district. The 
said board of elections shall also whenever 
necessary complete the description of the 
boundaries of any aldermanic district, but 
such aldermanic districts shall not be affect- 
ed by any change in the assembly district 
lines. 

Qualification of members of tlie 
board of aldermen. 

Sec. 20. Any citizen of the United States 
who is a resident of The City of New York 
shall be eligible for election to the board of 
aldermen in any one of the aldermanic dis- 
tricts. 

Time of meetlnit of Board of Alder- 
iii e ii . 

Sec. 22. The First meeting of the board of 
aldermen in each year shall be held on the 
first Monday of January, at noon. 

When president of board of alder- 
men to act as mayor; powers; tempo- 
rary chairman of board of aldermen. 

Sec. 23. Whenever there shall be a vacancy 
in the office of mayor, or whenever, by rea- 
son of sickness or absence from the city, the 
mayor shall be prevented from attending to 
the duties of his office, the president of the 
board of aldermen shall act as mayor, and 
possess all the rights and powers Sf mayor 
during such disability or absence. In case 
of a vacancy he shall so act until noon of the 
first day of January succeeding the election at 
which the mayor’s successor shall be chosen. 
It shall not be lawful for the president of the 
board of aldermen when acting as mayor in 
consequence of the sickness or absence from 
the city of the mayor, to exercise any power 
of appointment to or removal from office, un- 
less such sickness or absence of the mayor 
shall have continued thirty days; or to sign, 
approve, or disapprove any ordinance or res- 
olution unless such sickness or absence shall 
have continued at least nine days. The 
board of aldermen shall elect a vice-chair- 
man to preside over its meetings, who shall 
possess the powers and perform the duties 
of the president of the board of aldermen, 
when the president is sick, absent or under 
suspension, or while the president of the 
board of aldermen is acting as mayor, or 
when a vacancy occurs in said office, and 
who shall, during such times, be a member 
of every board of which the president of said 
board of aldermen is a member by virtue of 
his office. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


9 


Heads of departments; seats In board 
of aldermen; when required to at- 
tend. 

Sec. 25. Each head of an administrative de- 
partment of the city shall be entitled to a 
seat in the board of aldermen and shall 
whenever required by it attend its meetings. 
He shall answer all questions put to him by 
any member relating to the affairs of his de- 
partment, provided he shall have received 
forty-eight hours written notice thereof, and 
of the questions to be put. He shall have 
the right to participate in the discussions of 
said board, but shall not have the right to 
vote. If an administrative department Is 
composed of more than one member, the pres- 
ident or presiding officer of such department 
shall be entitled to such seat. 

Board of aldermen; Mergennt-at-arra* ; 
rules; Journal; sittings; expulsion of 
members. 

Sec. 27. The board of aldermen may elect 
a sergeant-at-arms and such assistants as are 
needful to the orderly conduct of Its meet- 
ings. provided, however, that no expenditures 
for salaries for such sergeant-at-arms and 
such assistants shall exceed the amount ap- 
propriated therefor in the annual budget. 
The board of aldermen shall determine the 
rules of Its own proceedings; shall be the 
judge of the election returns and qualifica- 
tions of its own members, subject, however, 
to review by certiorari of any court of com- 
petent jurisdiction; shall keep a journal of Its 
proceedings; shall sit with open doors; shall 
have authority to compel the attendance of 
absent members and to punish its members 
for disorderly behavior, and to expel any 
member with the concurrence of two-thirds 
of all the members elected to the board of 
aldermen. Every member so expelled shall 
thereby forfeit all his rights and powers, 
subject, however, to judicial review on cer- 
tiorari. 

City clerk: appointment; term; duties; 
papers certified by him; how far ad- 
missible In evidence; fees for certifi- 
cation. 

Sec. 28. The board of aldermen shall, when- 
ever a vacancy occurs in the office of city 
clerk, appoint a clerk, who shall perform such 
duties as may be prescribed for him. The 
clerk so appointed shall also be the city elerk 
and the clerk of the board of aldermen, and 
shall hold his office for six years, and until 
his successor shall be appointed and has qual- 
ified, unless removed for cause. The city 
clerk shall have charge of all the papers and 
documents of the city, except such as are by 
law committed to the keeping of the several 
departments or of other officers, and except 
as provided in section one hundred and thir- 
ty-six of this act as amended. He shall keep 
the record of the proceedings of the board 
of aldermen. He shall also keep a "separate 
record of all the ordinances of the board of 
aldermen in a book to be provided for that 
purpose, with proper indices, which book 
shall be deemed a public record of such or- 
dinances, and each ordinance shall be attest- 
ed by said clerk. Copies of all papers duly 
filed in his office, and transcripts thereof, and 
of the records of proceedings of the board of 
aldermen, and copies of the laws and ordi- 
nances of said city, certified by him under 
the corporate seal, shall be admissible In 
evidence In all courts and places in the same 
manner and for the same purposes as papers 
or documents similarly authenticated by the 
clerk of a county. Said city clerk may' be 
removed on charges by a two-thirds vote of 
all the members of the board of aldermen, 
subject, however, to Judicial review on certio- 
rari. He shall collect the following fees; For 


a copy of any book, account, record or other 
paper filed In his office, five cents for each 
folio; for a certification of any book, account, 
record or other paper filed in his office, 
twenty-five cents, and five cents in addition 
for each folio In excess of five; for each bond 
filed in his office, twelve cents; for filing all 
other papers, required by law to be filed in 
his office, six cents; for a certificate of ap- 
pointment of a commissioner of deeds, twen- 
ty-five cents. 

City clerk; proceedings of board of 

aldermen. 

Sec. 29. Immediately after the adjournment 
of each meeting of the board of aldermen, 
it shall be the duty of the city clerk to pre- 
pare a brief extract, omitting all technical 
and formal details, of all resolutions and or- 
dinances introduced or passed, and of all 
recommendations of committees, and of all 
final proceedings, as well as full copies of 
all messages from the mayor and all reports 
of departments or officers. He shall at once 
transmit the same to the person appointed 
to supervise the publication of the City 
Record to be published therein. 

Certain ordinances and resolutions, 

how passed and approved; ayes and 

noes published. 

Sec. 30. No ordinance or resolution pro- 
viding for or contemplating the alienation 
or disposition of any property of the city, the 
granting of a franchise, terminating the lease 
of any property or franchise belonging to the 
city, or the making of any specific improve- 
ment, or the appropriation or expenditure of 
public moneys, or authorizing the Incurring 
of any expense, or the taxing or assessing of 
property in the city, shall, unless by unani- 
mous consent, be finally passed or adopted 
by the board of aldermen until at least five 
days after such abstract of its provisions 
shall have been published, as provided In 
section twenty-nine. No such ordinance or 
resolution shall be approved by the mayor 
until three days after such abstract shall 
have been so published after its passage; but 
if an abstract of any resolution or ordinance 
shall have been once published after its in- 
troduction, it shall not thereafter be neces- 
sary to publish the same again, but only to 
refer to the date and page of the former 
publication in the City Record, and to state 
the amendments, if any, made thereto. In 
all cases the ayes and noes upon the final 
passage of such resolution or ordinance shall 
be taken, recorded and published. 

Record* open for Inspection; other du- 
ties of clerk; *ickne**. 

Sec. 31. It shall be the duty of the city 
clerk to keep open for inspection at all rea- 
sonable times, the records and minutes of 
the proceedings of the board of aldermen. 
He shall keep the seal of the city, and his 
signature shall be necessary to all leases by 
the city of its property, and to all grants and 
other documents, as under existing laws. 
In the absence of said clerk by sickness or 
otherwise, his first deputy shall be vested 
with and possessed of all rights and powers, 
and be charged with all the duties by this 
section or by law or ordinance Imposed upon 
said clerk. 

Id.; record* and paper* delivered to 

and kept by the city clerk; clerk* in 

borough*. 

Sec. 32. All the muniments, records, patents, 
deeds, minutes, writings and papers belong- 
ing to the mayor, aldermen and commonalty 
of the city of New York, which were in the 
custody of the clerk of the board of aider- 
men thereof on the thirty-first day of De- 
cember, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, 
shall be delivered to and kept by the city 


clerk. The city clerk shall, except as oth- 
erwise expressly provided in this act, be the 
custodian of all like muniments, records, 
patents, deeds, minutes, writings and other 
papers belonging to any of the municipal 
and public corporations by this act united and 
consolidated into The City of New York, 
and shall have power to appoint a clerk in 
each of the boroughs constituted by this act, 
who shall have charge of the same, subject 
to the direction and control of said city clerk 
or of the board of aldermen. 

Id.; salary and deputies. 

Sec. 33. The salary of the city clerk shall 
be seven thousand dollars a year, and he 
may appoint such deputies or clerks as are 
necessary to the discharge of his duties. 

License* to auctioneer*. 

Sec. 34. The city clerk shall have authority 
to grant licenses to any person engaged in 
and carrying on the business and occupation 
of auctioneer, or desiring to be so engaged, 
on such person filing a bond, approved by him, 
with two good sureties in the penal sum of 
two thousand dollars. The president of the 
board of aldermen on complaint of any per- 
son having been defrauded by any auctioneer, 
or by the clerk, agent or assignee of such 
auctioneer, doing business in said city, la 
authorized and directed to take testimony 
under oath relating thereto; and If th* 
charge shall, in his opinion, be sustained, he 
shall revoke the license granted to such auc- 
tioneer, and direct his bonds to be forfeited. 

Board of aldermen; journal; aye* and 

noe*. 

Sec. 35. The board of aldermen shall keep 
a journal of its proceedings, and the ayes and 
noes of the members on any question shall, 
at the desire of any two members, be taken 
and entered therein. The ayes and noes shall 
be called and recorded on the final passage 
of any ordinance. 

Id.; no member eligible to any city 

office. 

Sec. 36. No member of the board of alder- 
men shall, while serving as a member of such 
board, be eligible or be appointed to any 
other office under the city, nor shall any 
member of said board of aldermen, while 
such, be a contractor with or an employe 
of the city or of the board of aldermen in 
any capacity whatever. — As amended by Laws 
of 1903, Chapter 304. 

Id.; meeting*. 

Sec. 37. The stated and occasional meet- 
ings of the board of aldermen and its pro- 
ceedings and business shall be regulated by 
its own resolutions and rules, provided, 
however, that at least one stated meeting 
shall be held each month, except in its dis- 
cretion. in August and September. The mayor 
may at any time call a special meeting of 
the board of aldermen. He shall call such 
meeting when a requisition for that purpose, 
signed by fifteen members has been presented 
to him. Three days before any special meet- 
ing of the board of aldermen is held, notice 
oi the time of the Intended meeting and of 
the business proposed to be transacted, 
signed by the mayor, shall be published in 
the City Record, and at the same time the 
city clerk shall cause a copy of such notice 
to be left at or sent by post to the usual 
place of abode or of business of each mem- 
ber of the board of aldermen; but want of 
service of a notice upon any member shall 
not affect the validity of a meeting. No 
business shall be transacted at a special 
meeting other than that specified in the no- 
! tice relating thereto. 


10 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Id.; style of or-Jinances. 

Sec. 38. The style of ordinances shall be: 
“Be it ordained by the board of aldermen of 
The City of New York, as follows:” 

Id.! vote required to yass ordinances 

and resolutions. 

Sec. 39. Every legislative act of the board 
of aldermen shall be by ordinance or reso- 
lution. No ordinance or resolution shall be 
passed except by a vote of a majority of all 
the members of the board of aldermen. No 
money shall be expended for any celebra- 
tion, procession, funeral ceremony, recep- 
tion, or entertainment of any kind or on any 
occasion, unless by the votes of four-fifths 
of all the members of the board of alder- 
men. No additional allowance beyond the 
legal claim which shall exist under any con- 
tract with the corporation; or with any de- 
partment or officer thereof, or for any serv- 
ices on its account or in its employment, 
shall ever be passed by the board of alder- 
men except by a unanimous vote; and in 
all cases the provisions of any such con- 
tract shall determine the amount of any 
claim thereunder or in connection there- 
with, against the said corporation, or the 
value of any such services. 

Mayor's veto. 

Sec. 40. Every ordinance or resolution shall, 
before it takes effect, be presented, duly cer- 
tified, to the mayor for his approval. The 
mayor shall return such ordinance or resolu- 
tion to the board of aldermen, within ten days 
after receiving it, or at the next meeting of 
the board of aldermen after the expiration of 
said ten days, unless such ordinance or reso- 
lution be one of those mentioned in section 
thirty of this act, in which case the mayor 
shall return said ordinance or resolution 
within ten days after the abstract of its pro- 
visions or a reference thereto shall have 
been published in the City Record as pro- 
vided in said section rhirty, or at the next 
meeting of the board of aldermen after the 
expiration of said ten days. If he approve 
it, he shall sign it. If he disapprove it, he 
shall specify his objection thereto in writing. 
If he do not return it with such disapproval 
within the time above specified, it shall take 
effect as if he had approved it. In case of 
disapproval, the objections of the mayor shall 
be entered at large on the journal of the 
beard of aldermen and the board of aldermen 
shall, after ten days, and within fifteen days 
after such ordinance or resolution shall have 
been returned to it. proceed to reconsider and 
vovo upon the same. If the same shall, on 
reconsideration, be again passed by the votes 
of at least two-thirds of all the members 
of the board of aldermen, it shall take 
effect; provided that in case the ordinance 
or resolution involves the expenditure of 
money, the creation of a debt, or the laying 
of an assessment, it shall require a vote of 
three-fourths of all the members of the board 
of aldermen to pass it over the mayor’s veto; 
and if it involves the grant of a franchise, 
the mayor’s veto shall be final. If the ordi- 
nance or resolution shall fail to receive upon 
the first vote upon such reconsideration such 
number of affirmative votes, it shall be 
deemed finally lost. In all cases the vote 
shall be taken by ayes and noes, and the 
names of the persons voting for or against 
its passage on such reconsideration shall be 
entered in the journal of the house. In case 
an ordinance or resolution shall embrace more 
than one distinct subject, the mayor may ap- 
prove the provisions relating to one or more 
subjects, and disapprove the others. In such 
case those he shall approve shall become 


effective, and those he shall not approve shall 
be reconsidered by the board of aldermen, 
and shall only become effective if again 
passed, as above provided. 

Ordinances to remain in force. 

Sec. 41. The ordinances which on De- 
cember thirty-first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-seven, were in force respectively 
in The City of New York, the city of 
Brooklyn, Long Island City, and the 
other municipal and public corporations 
and parts thereof consolidated with The City 
of New York, except so far as the same 
have since been modified, amended, or re- 
pealed by the municipal assembly of The City 
of New York, and all ordinances which on 
January first, nineteen hundred and two, are 
in force in The City of New York, are, so 
far as the same are not inconsistent with 
this act, hereby continued in full force and 
effect within the former limits of said re- 
spective cities and municipal and public cor- 
porations, or parts thereof, subject to modi- 
fication, amendment or repeal by the board 
of aldermen of The City of New York. Such 
ordinances may be enforced by and in the 
name of “The City of New York.” 

Board of aldefinen; powers and duties 

of former boards. 

Sec. 42. Except as otherwise provided in 
this act, all the powers and duties which 
on December thirty-first, eighteen hundred 
and ninety-seven, were conferred or charged 
upon the common council or the mayor, al- 
dermen and commonalty of the city of New 
York, or the board of aldermen thereof, or 
upon the common council of the city of 
Brooklyn or of Long Island City, or upon 
any board, -body or officer of any of the mu- 
nicipal and public corporations or parts 
thereof, consolidated with The City of New 
York, as heretofore known and bounded, and 
all the powers and duties which on January 
first, nineteen hundred and two, are con- 
ferred or charged upon the municipal assem- 
bly of The City of New York shall be exer- 
cised and performed by the board of aider- 
men of The City of New York, as hereby 
constituted, subject, nevertheless, to the 
power of approval or disapproval by the 
mayor of said city, as provided in this act. 

Id.; police, health, park, fire and build- 
ing- regulations. 

Sec. 43. The board of aldermen shall have 
power to make, establish, alter, modify, 
amend and repeal all ordinances, rules, and 
police, health, park, fire and building regu- 
lations, not contrary to the laws of the state, 
or the United States, as they may deem 
necessary to carry into effect the powers con- 
ferred upon The City of New York by this 
act, or by any other law of the state, or by 
grant; and such as they may deem necessary 
and proper for the good government, order 
and protection of persons and property, and 
for the preservation of the public health, 
peace and prosperity of said city and its 
inhabitants, except so far as power is con- 
ferred by this act upon presidents of bor- 
oughs, the police, health, park, and fire de- 
partments respectively to makq rules for the 
government of the persons employed in and 
by said departments. Nothing in this sec- 
tion contained shall bo construed to impair 
the powers conferred by this act upon the 
department of education; and except so far 
as the legislative power respecting the health, 
police, park, fire and building departments 
shall be conferred upon said departments re- 
spectively by the provisions of this act, 
and except that any modification of the 
existing rules, regulations and ordinances af- 
fecting any of the departments and all ordi- 


i 

uanees to be passed to govern the board of 
public improvements or any of the depart- 
ments thereof, must originate with the de- 
partment concerned, or with said board, and 
must be adopted or rejected by the board of 
aldermen without amendment. 

I<1.; (foregoing) enumeration of pow- 
ers not restrictive: general power. 

Sec. 44. No enumeration of powers in this 
act shall be held to limit the legislative pow- 
er of the board of aldermen, which, in addi- 
tion to all enumerated powers may exercise 
all of the powers vested in The City of New 
York by this act, or otherwise, by proper or- 
dinances, rules, regulations and by-laws not 
inconsistent with the provisions of this act, 
or with the constitution or laws of the Unit- 
ed States or of this state; and, subject to 
such limitations, may from time to time or- 
dain and pass all such ordinances, rules, 
regulations and by-laws, applicable through- 
out the whole of said city or applicable only 
to specified portions thereof, as to the said 
board of aldermen may seem meet for the 
good rule and government of the city, and to 
carry out the purposes and provisions of this 
act or of other laws relating to the said city, 
and may provide for the enforcement of the 
same by such fines, penalties, forfeitures and 
imprisonment as may by ordinance or by law 
be prescribed. 

Franchises for street railways; (fer- 
ries.. 

Sec. 45. The board of aldermen is author- 
ized to grant from time to time to any cor- 
poration thereunto duly authorized the fran- 
chise or right to construct and operate rail- 
ways in, upon, over, under and along streets, 
avenues, waters, rivers, public places, park- 
ways or highways of the city, but no such 
grant shall be made except upon the limita- 
tions and conditions of this act elsewhere 
provided in respect of the grant by the board 
of aldermen of franchises and rights in or 
under the streets, avenues, waters, rivers, 
public places, parkways and highways of the 
city. The board of aldermen may pass ap- 
propriate ordinances not inconsistent with 
law or with this act, or with the vested 
rights of existing companies or corporations, 
to enforce the provisions of this section and 
to carry out its purposes. Nothing in this 
act contained shall repeal or affect in any 
manner the provisions of the rapid transit 
acts applicable to the corporation heretofore 
known as the mayor, aldermen and common- 
alty of the city of New York, or any munic- 
ipality united therewith or territory em- 
braced therein, or to repeal or affect the 
existing general laws of the state in respect 
to street surface railroads. The consent or 
approval of the board of aldermen to or for 
the issue of corporate stock of The City of 
New York, as provided by section one hun- 
dred and sixty-nine shall not be necessary to 
authorize the comptroller to issue such stock 
for the purposes presermed In chapter iou» 
of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
one as amended. The board of estimate and 
apportionment and the comptroller of The 
City of New York shall, anything herein con- 
tained to the contrary notwithstanding, be 
subject to all the duties and obligations pre- 
scribed in said chapter four of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and ninety-one as amend- 
ed for the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment and comptroller therein mentioned. Up- 
on the execution of any contract made pur- 
suant to chapter four of the laws of eight- 
een hundred and ninety-one as amended, the 
board of rapid transit railroad commission- 
ers may, in its discretion, make request up- 
on the board of estimate and apportionment 


11 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


for the authorization of such corporate stock, 
either for such amounts from time to time 
as they shall deem the progress of the work 
to require, or for the full amount sufficient 
to pay the entire estimated expense of exe- 
cuting such contract. In case they shall 
make requisition for the entire amount, the 
comptroller shall endorse on the contract his 
certificate that funds are available for the en- 
tire contract whenever such stock shall have 
been authorized to be issued by said board 
of estimate and apportionment; and in such 
case such stock may be issued from time to 
time thereafter in such amounts as may be 
necessary to meet the requirements of such 
contract. The certificate of the comptroller, 
mentioned in section one hundred and forty- 
nine of this act, shall not be necessary to 
make such contract binding on The City of 
New Yorji. 

Power to acquire additional water- 
works. 

Sec. 46. The board of aldermen is author- 
ized, in accordance with the provisions of 
this act, to construct, establish and main- 
tain, or to acquire by purchase or condemna- 
tion and maintain in all parts of the city, 
additional water works to supply the city 
or any part thereof and its inhabitants with 
water, and to provide for the distribution 
and sale to the inhabitants of the city of 
such water, and fix the terms thereof, and ac- 
quire and hold property, real and personal, 
within and beyond the limits of the city for 
said purposes. The board of aldermen may 
pass appropriate ordinances, not inconsistent 
with law, with this act or with any vested 
rights of existing companies or corporations, 
to enforce the provisions of this section and 
to carry out Its purposes. 

(Id.;) further powers; bonds for speci- 
fied public improvements. 

Sec. 47. The board of aldermen shall have 
power to provide by ordinance for 
the acquisition, construction or estab- 
lishment of markets; for the acquisition 
and construction of parks, parkways, boule- 
vards and driveways; for the building of 
bridges over and of tunnels under any stream 
or waterway within or adjoining the limits 
of the city; for the building of docks, 
wharves or piers, and for acquiring land by 
purchase or condemnation for said purposes; 
for acquiring, or constructing public build- 
ings, including school-houses and sites 
therefor for the use of the city; for the re- 
paving of streets; and for any of the fore- 
going purposes, may create loans and author- 
ize the issue of bonds, or other evidences of 
indebtedness, to pay for the same, payable 
at such times, and in such manner, and at 
such rates of interest as it may by ordinance 
prescribe; but no bonds or other evidences of 
indebtedness shall be Issued under the au- 
thority of this section, unless the proposition 
for creating such debt, shall first be ap- 
proved by a majority vote of the whole 
hoard of estimate and apportionment, entered 
on the minutes of record of such board. 

Board of Aldermen, to act within 
limited time oil bond issues and 
grants of franchises. 

Sec. 48. After any proposition for creating 
a debt by the issue of bonds for any of the 
purposes specified in section forty-seven of 
this act as amended, or after any proposed 
franchise or right to use the streets, avenues, 
waters, parkways or highways of the city, 
has been approved by a resolution or vote of 
the board of estimate and apportionment, it 
shall be the duty of the board of aldermen 
upon receiving a copy of such resolution or 


vote to appoint a day not less than one week 
nor more than two weeks after receipt there- 
of for the consideration of the subject mat- 
ter. The board of aldermen shall, on the 
day so fixed, proceed with the consideration 
thereof, and may continue and adjourn such 
consideration from time to time until a final 
vote shall be taken thereon as hereinafter 
provided. Within six weeks after the copy 
of such resolution or vote of the board of 
estimate and apportionment shall have been 
first received by the board of aldermen, a 
final vote shall be taken thereon by ayes 
and noes. If a majority of all the members 
of the board of aldermen shall vote against 
such proposition or franchise it shall be 
deemed to be rejected. If a majority of 
all the members of the board of aldermen 
shall not vote against such proposition or 
franchise within the six weeks above limited, 
then it shall be deemed at the expiration of 
said period to have been passed by the 
requisite vote of the board of aldermen. The 
action of the board of aldermen in passing 
any such proposition or franchise, whether 
by an affirmative vote, or by a failure of a 
majority of all the members of the board of 
aldermen to vote against the same, shall be 
subject to the approval of the mayor 
and to the action of the board of aldermen 
in case of a veto, as provided in this act. 

I«l.; ordinances and resolutions for 
certain purposes. 

Sec. 49. The board of aldermen shall have 
power to make, amend and repeal ordinances, 
rules, regulations and by-laws not incon- 
sistent with this act, or with the constitu- 
tion and laws of the United States or of this 
state, for the following purposes; 

1. In relation to the inspection and sealing 
of weights and measures, and the keeping in 
use of proper weights and measures by 
vendors. 

2. In relation to the inspection, weighing 
and measuring of firewood, coal, hay and 
straw and the cartage of the same. 

3. In relation to street vagrants, beggars 
and mendicants. 

4. In relation to the use of guns, pistol3, 
firearms, firecrackers, fireworks and de- 
tonating -works of all descriptions. 

5. In relation to intoxication, fighting and 
quarreling in the streets, the breaking or 
extinguishing of street lamps, and the willful 
breaking or defacing of windows, porches, 
knockers or other fixtures. 

6. In relation to places of public amuse- 
ment. 

7. In relation to the construction, repair and 
use of vaults, cisterns, areas, hydrants, sew- 
ers and pumps. 

8. In relation to partition fences and walls. 

9. In relation to the construction, repair, 
care and use of markets. 

10. For the preservation and protection of 
all or any of the works connected with the 
supplying of The City of New York with pure 
and wholesome water. 

11. To regulate the fees for searches and 
certificates to be charged by the collector of 
assessments and arrears. 

12. To regulate swimming and bathing in 
the waters of and bounding the city, to es- 
tablish and maintain such public baths and 
public comfort stations as they may deem 
necessary, and to establish suitable rules and 
regulations for the management of the same. 

13. To prohibit and suppress all gaming- 
houses and places for gaming in the said 
city. 

14. To provide for the more effectual sup- 
pression of vice or immorality, and the pre- 
serving of peace and good order in said city. 

15. To enlarge or extend from time to time 


the limits of the fire districts of the city, 
and to establish additional fire districts, and 
from time to time to extend the same. 

16. To regulate the use of every building 
now used or hereafter to be used as a hotel, 
in so far as the use thereof may involve the 
safety of the inmates in case of fire. 

17. And the board of aldermen shall also fix 
the annual license fee, not exceeding the sum 
of twenty dollars, for each street or horse car 
daily operated or used in that portion of the 
city heretofore known as the City of Brook- 
lyn. Every railroad company operating or 
using such cars shall, on or before the first 
day of June in each year, certify to the city 
clerk the average number of cars daily 
operated and used by said company, which 
certificate shall be verified by the oath of 
one of the managing officers of said com- 
pany, and every such railroad company shall, 
on or before the first day of July in each 
year, pay to the chamberlain of The City 
of New York the license fee so established 
for the average number of cars so operated 
and used by said company. The said license 
fees shall be taken in full satisfaction for 
the use of the streets or avenues, but the 
same shall not release said company from 
any obligations required by law to keep such 
In repair, which said obligations and the 
streets and avenues, or any part thereof, 
in repair, which said obligations and the 
contracts, laws or ordinances, creating and 
enforcing the same, are hereby continued 
in full force and operation. But nothing In 
this subdivision contained shall be construed 
to release any railroad company In The 
City of New York, as constituted by this 
act, from any duty or obligation existing at 
the time this act takes effect by virtue of 
any law, ordinance or contract. 

Ordinances in relation to the matters 
mentioned in this section may provide for 
the enforcement thereof in the manner 
specified in section forty-four of this act as 
amended. 

I«l.; to regnlntc tlie use of streets, pro- 
cessions, ete. 

Sec. 50. Subject to the constitution and 
laws of the state, the board of aldermen 
shall have power to regulate the use of 
streets and sidewalks by foot passengers, 
animals or vehicles; to regulate the speed 
at which horses shall be driven or ridden 
and at which vehicles shall be propelled 
in the streets; to regulate processions or 
parades occupying or marching upon any 
street; to prevent encroachments upon and 
obstructions to the streets and to authorize 
and require their removal by the proper offi- 
cers; to regulate the opening of street sur- 
faces for purposes authorized by law; to 
regulate the numbering df houses and lots 
In the streets and the naming of streets, 
except that it shall not be lawful to num- 
ber or renumber any houses or to change 
the name of any street save between the 
first day of December in any year and the 
first day of May next ensuing; to regulate 
and prevent the throwing or depositing of 
ashes, garbage or other filth or rubbish of 
any kind upon the streets; to regulate the 
use of the streets for signs, sign posts, 
awnings, awning posts, horse troughs, uri- 
nals, posts for telegraph or other electric 
wires, and other purposes; to regulate 
street pavements, cross-walks, curbstones, 
gutter-stones and sidewalks; to provide for 
regulating, grading, flagging, curbing, gut- 
tering and lighting the streets; to regulate 
public cries, advertising noises, steam whis- 
tles, and ringing bells in the streets; to regu- 
late the exhibiting of banners, placards or 


12 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


flags in or across the streets or from houses 
or other buildings; to regulate the exhibi- 
tion of advertisements or handbills along the 
streets; and to make all such regulations in 
reference to the running of stages, omni- 
buses, trucks and cars as may be necessary 
for the convenient use and the accommoda- 
tion of the streets, piers, wharves or sta- 
tions. Whenever the word “street” or the 
plural thereof occurs in this section it shall 
be deemed to include all that is included 
by the terms “street, avenue, road, alley, 
lane, highway, boulevard, concourse, public 
square and public place,” or the plurals 
thereof respectively. Wherever the word 
"vehicle” or the plural thereof occurs in 
this section it shall be deemed to include 
wagons, trucks, carts, cabs, carriages, stages, 
omnibuses, motors, automobiles, locomo- 
biles, locomotives, bicycles, tricycles, sleighs 
or other conveyances for persons or prop- 
erty. The board of aldermen shall not have 
power to authorize the placing or continu- 
ing of any encroachment or obstruction upon 
any street or sidewalk, except the temporary 
occupation thereof during the erection or re- 
pairing of a building on a lot opposite the 
same, nor shall they permit the erection of 
booths and stands within stoop lines, except 
for the sale of newspapers, periodicals, fruits 
and soda-water, and with the consent in 
such cases of the owner of the premises. 
The board of aldermen shall not pass any 
special ordinance in relation to any of the 
matters mentioned in this section. All ordi- 
nances in relation thereto shall be general 
ordinances which may either apply through- 
out the whole city or throughout specified 
portions thereof, and shall provide for the 
enforcement thereof as specified in section 
forty-four of this act as amended. Noth- 
ing herein contained shall be construed to 
prevent the board of aldermen from provid- 
ing by special ordinance for the erection 
or maintenance on the streets or waters 
within The City of New York of fountains, 
public comfort stations, urinals, public baths, 
or other like structures maintained by the 
public authorities; for the establishment of 
which the said board is hereby emppwered 
to provide. All general ordinances relating 
to authorized structures, encroachments or 
obstructions in or upon the streets or side- 
walks by persons other than the authori- 
ties of The City of New York, or other pub- 
lic authorities, shall fix a definite license 
fee for every such authorized structure, en- 
croachment or obstruction, according to the 
character, extent and duration thereof, 
and shall provide for the issuing of re- 
vocable licenses therefor, which shall be ac- 
cording to an established form and shall be 
regularly numbered and duly registered as 
shall be prescribed by the board of aider- 
men. 

Id.; licensing: and regulating certain 
traders or business; dog licenses, etc. 

51. Subject to the constitution and the 
laws of the state, the board of aldermen shall 
have power to provide for the licensing and 
otherwise regulating the business of dirt carts, 
public cartmen, truckmen, hackmen, cabmen, 
expressmen, car drivers and boatmen; of boot- 
blacks; of pawnbrokers, junk-dealers, keepers 
of intelligence offices, dealers in second hand 
articles, hawkers, peddlers, vendors and 
scalpers in coal freights; of menageries, cir- 
cuses and common shows; of bone boiling, fat 
rendering and other noxious businesses; and 
shall have power to regulate or forbid the 
keeping of dogs. The board of aldermen shall 
also have power to regulate the rates of fare 
to be taken by owners or drivers of hackney 
coaches, carriages, motors, automobiles or 


Other vehicles and to compel the owners 
thereof to pay annual license fees. All ordi- 
nances in relation to any of the matters men- 
tioned in this section shall be general, shall 
provide for the enforcement thereof in the 
manner specified in section forty-four of this 
act as amended, and shall fix the license fees 
to be paid, if any. All licenses shall be ac- 
cording to an established form, and shall be 
regularly numbered and duly registered as 
shall be prescribed by the board of aldermen. 

Rules and regulations as to navigable 

waters within the city limits. 

Sec. 52. The board of aldermen shall have 
power to establish by general ordinances 
proper rules and regulations, for the safety 
of passengers on excursion steamers, yachts, 
and all crafts taking part in regattas or 
races, whether as observers or participants, 
in the navigable waters embraced within the 
corporate limits of the city and for preserving 
the public peace and preventing undue inter- 
ference with, or interruption of such re- 
gattas and races. Such rules and regulations 
when so adopted shall be duly published in 
the public newspapers and any wilful viola- 
tion of the same by any person shall subject 
the offender to the penalties of a misdemean- 
or and if the holder of a license from the city 
to a forfeiture thereof. 

Id.; to see to the faithful execution of 

the laws, etc. 

Sec. 54. The board of aldermen shall have 
power and it shall be its duty to see to the 
faithful execution of the laws and ordinances 
of the city;, and it may appoint from time to 
time a special committee to inquire whether 
the laws and ordinances of the city relating 
to any subject or to any department of the 
city government are being faithfully ob- 
served, and the duties of the officers of such 
department or of any officer of the city are 
being faithfully discharged, also to examine 
and report whether there are any unneces- 
sary, inefficient or unfit employes, any exces- 
sive salaries or compensations paid, and 
generally in respect of any and all matters 
which will conduce to the orderly and eco- 
nomical administration of the affairs of the 
city government or any department thereof. 
Such committee shall have access to the 
books and records of the city or of any 
department or officer thereof. 

Id.; security to be required from cer- 
tain officers. 

Sec. 55. It shall be the duty of the board 
of aldermen, where no provision has been 
made by law in respect thereto, to provide 
for the accountability of all officers and other 
persons, save as herein otherwise provided, 
to whom the receipt or expenditure of the 
funds of the city shall be entrusted, by re- 
quiring from them sufficient security for the 
performance of their duties of trust, which 
security shall be annually renewed; but the 
security first taken shall remain in force 
until new security shall be given. In the 
event of a failure of the board of aldermen 
to fix any such bond, the heads of the re- 
spective departments and the presidents of 
the several boroughs shall have power to 
fix such bond subject to modifications by the 
board of aldermen. 

(Division) Salaries of oilioers. 

Sec. 56. The salaries of all officers whose 
offices may be created by the board of al- 
dermen for the purpose of giving effect to 
the provisions of this act, shall, subject to 
the other provisions of this act, be pre- | 
scribed by ordinance or resolution. Except 


as in this section otherwise provided it shall 
be the duty of the board of aldermen, upon 
the recommendation of the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment, to fix the salary 
of every officer or person- whose compensa- 
tion is paid out of the city treasury other 
than day laborers, and teachers, examiners 
and members of the supervising staff of the 
department of education, irrespective of the 
amount fixed by this act, except that no 
change shall be made in the salary of an. 
elected officer or head of a department dur- 
ing his tenure of office. Salaries need not 
be uniform throughout the several boroughs, 
but may, in the discretion of the board of 
estimate and apportionment, be made to 
consist of two elements: First, remunera- 
tion for work done, which shall be the same 
throughout all the borough for positions of 
like character; second, an additional sum 
based upon an estimate of the prevailing 
rentals and expenses of living in the bor- 
ough where the services rendered are per- 
formed, and which may vary in the several 
boroughs. The board of aldermen may re- 
duce, but may not increase, any salary rec- 
ommended by the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment; but the action of the board of 
aldermen or reducing any salary so recom- 
mended shall be subject to the veto power of 
the mayor, as provided in section forty of 
of this act. In case the board of aldermen 
shall vote to reduce more than one salary, 
the mayor may approve the reduction of 
one or more salaries and may disapprove 
the reduction of others. In such case the 
reductions he shall approve shall become 
effective; and as to those which he shall not 
approve, the recommendations of the board 
of estimate and apportionment shall become 
effective, unless the reductions be again 
passed by a three-fourths vote of the board 
of aldermen in the manner provided in sec- 
tion forty of this act. All salaries as fixed 
on the first day of January, nineteen hun- 
dred and two, shall continue in force until 
fixed by the board of aldermen in this sec- 
tion provided, except as may be otherwise 
determined by the board of estimate and 
apportionment prior to the first day of May 
in the year nineteen hundred and two under 
the provisions of section ten hereof. — As 
amended by Law's of 1902, Chapter 435. 

Id.; publication o£ ordinances; codifi- 
cation. 

Sec. 57. The ordinances in force in The 
City of New York shall, as far as practica- 
ble be reduced to a code and published. The 
board of aldermen shall annually appoint a 
committee whose duty it shall be to com- 
pile the general ordinances in force on Janu- 
ary first, nineteen hundred and two, so far 
as the same remain in force, together with 
all general ordinances thereafter adopted; 
and the board of aldermen shall cause such 
general ordinances so compiled to be annual- 
ly published. 

Id.; commissioners of deeds; appoint- 
ment; oath; term; clerk therefox - . 

Sec. 58. The board of aldermen is hereby 
authorized and is empowered to appoint 
commissioners of deeds from time to time, 
who shall hold their offices for two years 
from the date of their appointment; such 
appointment shall not require the approval 
of the mayor, and hereafter, at the time 
of subscribing or filing the oath of office, 
the city clerk shall collect from each person 
appointed a commissioner of deeds the sum 
of five dollars, and he shall not administer 
or fils said oath unless said fee has been 
paid. All fees collected by the city clerk 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


13 


under and by virtue of this act, except 
as hereinafter provided, shall be accounted 
for and paid over monthly into the treasury 
of the city. The city clerk shall appoint an 
officer, to be known as commissioner of deeds 
clerk, whose duties shall be to enter the 
names of commissioners of deeds appointed, 
in a book kept for that purpose, make out 
certificates of appointment and to discharge 
such other duties as the city clerk may 
designate. Said commissioner of deeds clerk 
shall receive a salary at the rate of twelve 
hundred dollars per annum, payable month- 
ly. Any person hereafter appointed to the 
office of commissioner of deeds in and for 
The City of New York by the board of aider- 
men, before entering upon the discharge of 
the duties of said office and within thirty 
days after such appointment, shall take and 
subscribe before the commissioner of deeds 
clerk, in the office of the city clerk, the 
following oath of office: That the applicant 
is a citizen of the United States and of the 
State of New York, and a resident of The 
City of New York; that he will support the 
Constitution of the United States and the 
Constitution of the State of New York, and 
faithfully discharge the duties of the office 
of commissioner of deeds. Any commis- 
sioner of deeds who may remove from The 
City of New York during his term of office is 
hereby required to notify the city clerk of 
such removal. Any person appointed to 
the office of commissioner of deeds under the 
provision of this section upon qualifying as 
above provided may take acknowledgments 
and administer oaths in any part of the 
City of New York, without filing a certifi- 
cate of his appointment in the office of the 
clerk of the county in which he resides or 
in which the borough in which the acknowl- 
edgment is taken or the oath administered is 
situated, and all papers so acknowledged or 
verified shall be recorded or read in evidence 
without any further proof in all the boroughs 
of The City of New York. The city clerk 
upon the request of any commissioner ap- 
pointed under the provisions of this act must 
make and deliver to such commissioner a 
certificate under his hand and official seal, 
showing the appointment and term of office 
of such commissioner, which certificates may 
be filed in the office of the clerk of the coun- 
ties of New York, Kings, Queens and Rich- 
mond upon payment of six cents in each office 
for filing. The clerks of the counties of New 
York, Kings, Queens and Richmond shall 
each keep a book in which shall be registered 
the signatures of the commissioners so filing 
such certificate, and said clerks of the coun- 
ties of New' York, Kings, Queens and Rich- 
mond shall upon demand and upon payment 
of the sum of twenty-five cents, authenticate 
a certificate of acknowledgment or proof or 
oath taken before such a commissioner of 
deeds, by subjoining or attaching to the 
original certificate of acknowledgment or 
proof or oath, a certificate under his hand 
and official seal specifying that at the time 
of taking the acknowledgment of proof, the 
officer taking it was duly authorized to take 
the same; that the authenticating officer is 
acquainted with the former’s handwriting, or 
has compared the signature to the original 
certificate with that deposited in his office 
by such officer, and that he verily believes 
the signature to the original certificate is 
genuine, and if the original certificate is re- 
quired to be under seal, he must also certify 
that he has compared the impression of the 
seal affixed thereto with the impression of 
the seal of the officer who took the acknowl- 
edgment or proof deposited in his office, and 
that he verily believes the impression of the 


seal upon the original certificate to be gen- 
uine, without regard to the county in which 
said acknowledgment was taken or oath ad- 
ministered, provided that said county be 
w holly within The City of New York, or if it 
be partly within The City of New York, that 
the acknowledgment was taken or oath ad- 
ministered in that portion of said county 
which is included within the boundaries of 
The City of New York. Any instrument or 
paper acknowledged before a commissioner 
within The City of New York and certified 
by the clerk of the county of New York, 
Kings, Queens or Richmond, as hereinbefore 
provided, shall be recorded and read in evi- 
dence in any county of this state without 
further proof. The term of office of every 
commissioner of deeds who, on the first day 
of May, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
shall be holding over after a term of two 
years, shall then cease. 

Board of aldermen; trnstees of public 

property. 

Sec. 59. The board of aldermen and the 
several members thereof and all officers and 
employes of the city are hereby declared 
trustees of the property, funds and effects 
of said city respectively, so far as such prop- 
erty, funds and effects are or may be com- 
mitted to their management or control, and 
every person residing in said city, when 
authorized to pay taxes therein, and who 
shall pay taxes therein is hereby declared 
to be a cestui que trust in respect to the 
said property, funds and effects, respective- 
ly; and any co-trustees, or any cestui que 
trust, shall be entitled, as against said trus- 
tees, and in regard to said property, funds 
and effects, to all rights and privileges pro- 
vided by law for any co- trustee or cestui 
que trust to prosecute and maintain any 
action to prevent waste and injury to any 
property, funds and estate held in trust. Such 
trustees are hereby made subject to all the 
duties and responsibilities imposed by law 
on trustees, and such duties and responsi- 
bilities may be enforced by the city or by 
any co-trustee or cestui que trust afore- 
said. 

Board of aldermen; violations of law 

by members of. 

Sec. 60. Any member of the board of al- 
dermen who shall knowingly and wilfully 
disregard any provision of law applicable to 
the members of said board of aldermen, or 
who shall vote for any contract in violation 
of law or any appropriation unauthorized 
by law or in excess of the amount author- 
ized by law, or for any illegal or injurious 
disposition of corporate property, rights or 
franchises, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor 
and liable to the punishment and penalties 
prescribed therefor; and every member vot- 
ing in favor thereof shall be individually 
liable to refund the amount to the city at the 
suit of any citizen and taxpayer. 

Board of aldermen; farther power; 

Sec. 61. The board of aldermen is au- 
thorized and empowered, on the application, 
in writing, of the head of the fire depart- 
ment, to grant the said department loca- 
tion for apparatus houses for said depart- 
ment on any of the public property, streets 
or slips; provided that the said houses are 
so located and constructed that in the judg- 
ment of said board they will not disfigure 
or mar the appearance of the public prop- 
erty, streets or slips, nor interfere with 
the purpose of travel or public recreation, 
and which if placed upon any street, avenue 
or slip, shall not reduce the width of the 
same between the curbs for the purpose of 
travel at the place o'f such location to less 
than thirty feet on each side of said building. 


CHAPTER 3. 

FRANCHISES AND GRANTS OF LAND 
UNDER WATER. 

Title 1. Franchises. 

Title 2. Grants of land under water. 

TITLE I. 

FRANCHISES. 

Inalienable rights of the city to its 
properties. 

Sec. 71. The rights of the city in and to its 
water front, ferries, wharf property, land un- 
der water, public landings, wharves, docks, 
streets, avenues, parks and all other public 
places are hereby declared to be inalienable. 
Franchises to be granted by ordinance. 

Sec. 72. Every grant of or relating to a 
franchise of any character to any person or 
corporation must, unless otherwise provided 
in this act, be by ordinance. 

Limitations and conditions to grants 
of franchises. 

Sec. 73. After the approval of this act no 
franchise or right to use the streets, ave- 
nues. waters, rivers, parkways or highways 
of the city, shall be granted by the board 
of aldermen to any person or corporation 
for a longer period than twenty-five years, 
except as hereinafter provided, but such 
grant may at the option of the city provide 
for giving to the grantee the right on a fair 
revaluation or revaluations to renewals not 
exceeding in the aggregate twenty-five years. 
Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this 
section contained shall apply to consents 
granted to tunnel railroad corporations, and 
the board of aldermen is hereby authorized 
in its discretion to grant a franchise or right 
to any railroad corporation to use any of said 
streets, avenues, waters, rivers, parkways or 
highways in the City of New York for the 
construction and operation of a tunnel rail- 
road underneath the surface thereof for any 
period not exceeding fifty years, and any 
such grant may at the option of the city pro- 
vide for giving to the grantee the right, on 
a fair revaluation or revaluations, to renew- 
als not exceeding in the aggregate twenty- 
five years, provided, however, that any grant 
to construct a tunnel railroad or renewal 
thereof shall only be made after an agree- 
ment has been entered into by such a tun- 
nel corporation to pay to The City of New 
York at least three per centum of the net 
profits derived from the use of any tunnel 
which it shall construct, after there shall 
have first been retained by such company 
from such net profits a sum equal to five per 
centum upon the sum expended to construct 
such tunnel. At the termination of any 
franchise or right granted by the board of 
alderman all the rights or property of the 
grantee in the streets, avenues, waters, 
rivers, parkways and highways shall cease 
without compensation. Every such grant of 
a franchise and every contract made by the 
city in pursuance thereof may provide that 
upon the termination of the franchise or 
right granted by the board of aldermen the 
plant of the grantee, with its appurtenances, 
shall thereupon be and become the property of 
the city without further or other compensa- 
tion to the grantee; or such grant and con- 
tract may provide that upon such termination 
there shall be a fair valuation of the plant 
which shall be and become the property of 
the city on the termination of the contract 
on paying the grantee such valuation. If by 
virtue of the grant or contract the plant is 
to become the city’q without money payment 


14 


YORK. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW 


therefor, the city shall have the option eith- 
er to take and operate the said property on 
Its own account, or to lease the same for a 
term not exceeding twenty years. If the 
original grant shall provide that the city shall 
make payment for the plant and property, 
such payment shall be at a fair valuation 
of the same as property, excluding any value 
derived from the franchise; and if the city 
shall make payment for such plant ft shall 
in that event have the option either to oper- 
ate the plant and property on its own account 
or to lease the said plant and property and 
the right to the use of streets and public 
places in connection therewith for limited 
periods, in the same or similar manner as 
it leases the ferries and docks. Every grant 
shall make adequate provision by way of for- 
feiture of the grant, or otherwise, to secure 
efficiency of public sendee at reasonable 
rates and the maintenance of the property 
in good condition throughout the full term of 
the grant. The grant or contract shall also 
specify the mode of determining the valua- 
tion and revaluations therein provided for. 

Proceeding;" prior to grant of f run - 

cliise. 

Gee. 74. Before any grant of the franchise 
or right to use any street, avenue, water- 
way, parkway or highway shall be made, the 
proposed specific grant embodied in the form 
of an ordinance with ail of the terms and 
conditions, including the provisions as to 
rates, fares and charges, shall be published at 
least twenty days in. the City Record and at 
least twice in two daily newspapers published 
in the city, to be designated by the mayor, at 
the expense of the proposed grantee. Such 
ordinance shall on its introduction and first 
reading be referred by the board of aider- 
men to the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment, who shall make inquiry as to the 
money value of the franchise or right pro- 
posed to be granted and the adequacy of the 
compensation proposed to be paid therefor, 
and no grant thereof by the board of aider- 
men shall be made except on terms approved 
by vote or resolution of the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment, entered on the min- 
utes or record of such board, and every ordi- 
nance containing or making such grant shall 
require the concurrence of three-fourths of 
all the members of the board of aldermen 
as shown by the ayes and noes there recorded 
and the approval of the mayor, and thirty 
days at least shall intervene between the 
Introduction and final passage of any such 
ordinance. It shall require a vote of three- 
fourths of all the members elected to each 
branch of the board of aldermen to pass such 
ordinance over the mayor’s veto. This act 
shall apply to any renewal or extension of 
the grant or leasing of the property to the 
same grantee or '. i others. 

Hoard of aldermen to pass ordinance". 

Sec. 75. The board of aldermen may from 
time to time pass appropriate ordinances, not 
Inconsistent with the constitution and laws 
of the state, to carry the provisions of this 
title into effect, but r-hall not part with the 
right and duty at all times to exercise 
In the interest of the public, full municipal 
superintendence, regulation and control in re- 
spect of all matters connected with such 
grant, and not inconsistent with the terms 
thereof. 

City may dispose of buildings not re- 
quired fur public use. 

Sec. 76. Nothing in this title contained 
shall prevent the city from disposing of any 
building or parcel of land no longer needed 
for public use, provided such disposition shall 


be approved by the sinking fund commis- 
sioners, and shall be at public sale, and be 
provided for by ordinance. 

Acts not applicable to grants under 

this title. 

Sec. 77. Section ninety-three of chapter five 
hundred and sixty-five of the laws of eigh- 
teen hundred and ninety and any acts amend- 
atory thereof or supplemental thereto, shall 
have no application to grants made under 
and pursuant to this title. 

TITLE 2. 

GRANTS OF I.ANDS UNDER WATER. 

Grants of lnnds and franchises to city 

in aid of commerce. 

Sec. 83. To the end that The City of New 
York, as herein constituted, may be enabled 
to make needful provisions for the navigation, 
intercourse and commerce of the city and 
adequately to develop and secure the same 
now and in the future, the said city shall have 
the control as herein and in this act provid- 
ed, of the water front of the entire city, 
subject, however, to the rights of private 
owners of property, and also power to estab- 
lish, construct, acquire, own, maintain and 
enjoy all ferries, public wharves, docks, piers, 
bulkheads, basins, slips, streets, approaches 
and spaces, and all other public structures, 
adjuncts and facilities necessary or proper for 
the navigation, intercourse and commerce, for- 
eign and domestic, of the city. To these ends, 
in addition to all other grants, there is here- 
by granted in fee to the said City of New 
York, as herein constituted, in all the public 
streams, rivers, sounds, bays and waters of 
all descriptions at any and all places within 
said city or adjoining the limits of said city 
as herein constituted, all and singular the 
property, estate, right, title and interest 
of the people of the state of New York, in, 
to, of, and concerning such lands and soil 
covered by water, as are embraced within the 
projected boundary lines of any street inter- 
secting the shore line, and which street is 
in public use or which may be hereafter 
opened for public use extending from high- 
water mark out into said streams, rivers, 
sounds, bays and waters so far (any limits in 
existing grants to the contrary) as the said 
city shall now or at any time hereafter in 
the opinion of its board of aldermen or de- 
partment of docks and ferries require the 
same for ferries, public wharves, docks, piers, 
bulkheads, basins, slips or other public struc- 
tures, adjuncts and facilities for navigation 
and commerce, including the right for such 
purposes to reclaim such lands from said 
waters, and including also all riparian rights 
and all rents, issues and profits of the prem- 
ises herein granted. The commissioners of 
the land office shall from time to time, con- 
vey or patent the lands herein granted to the 
city for said purposes as and whenever re- 
quired by the board of docks. 

Property and franchise" inalienable. 

Sec. 84. The property, franchises and rights 
hereby granted and the works and structures 
hereby authorized are not the subject of sale, 
but shall be held by the city in perpetuity. 
But this shall not prevent the city from leas- 
ing the same for limited periods of time, 
in the same manner as it leases other like 
property. 

Private rights protected. 

Sec. 85. This grant shall not impair or af- 
fect any existing valid private rights, or the 
existing riparian rights of owners of private 
property, or th^ lawful rights of private own- 
ers of docks, piers and other structures in 
the said city or any part thereof. 


Patenting; of land" nnder water by 

commissioners of the land ollice. 

Sec. 86. After the approval of this act no 
pfftent of soil or land under water within The 
City of New York, as herein constituted, shall 
be made except to The City of New York or 
to the riparian proprietor. If the board of 
docks, with the approval of the commissioners 
of the sinking fund, shall project a plan or 
plans for the construction of docks between 
street intersections as aforesaid, and desire 
a grant of land under water for that purpose, 
they shall make application therefor to the 
commissioners of the land office, who thereup- 
on shall give notice to the riparian proprietor 
before taking action in the matter and shall 
make such grant to the city for the purposes 
specified in section eighty-three. Such grant, 
however, shall be subject to all the rights 
of the riparian proprietor, and before the 
city shall construct such public wharves or 
other structures in front of the land of such 
riparian proprietor, the city shall make just 
compensation to such proprietor for the value 
of all the riparian rights. If the commis- 
sioners shall make a grant to the riparian 
proprietor it shall be confined to soil or land 
under water in front of the land of such 
riparian proprietor. If application be made 
to the commissioners of the land office by the 
riparian proprietor for a grant of soil or land 
under water within The City of New York, 
as herein constituted, such commissioners 
shall give notice thereof to the board 
of docks of the city, which shall ex- 
amine into such application and certi- 
fy to the- said commissioners whether in 
the opinion of the said board the granting 
of the same will conflict with the rights of 
the city under this act or be otherwise in- 
jurious to the public interests of the said 
city. The said commissioners may in their 
discretion insert such terms and conditions 
in the grant as are recommended by the 
board of docks and as will protect the pub- 
lic interests of the city in respect to navi- 
gation and commerce. The validity of any 
such grant or patent may be judicially de- 
termined in an action brought by and in the 
name of the city. 

Power of board of aldermen. 

Sec. 87. The board of aldermen may from 
time to time pass appropriate ordinances to 
carry the provisions hereof into effect, not 
inconsistent with law or this act. 

Repealing provision. 

Sec. 88. All acts and parts of acts, so 
far as the same are inconsistent with this 
chapter are hereby repealed. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE EXECUTIVE. 

Mayor; executive power in and elec- 
tion of r salary. 

Sec. 94. The executive power of The City 
of New York, as constituted by this act, 
shall be vested in the mayor, the presidents 
of the several boroughs and the officers of 
the several departments. The mayor shall 
be the chief executive officer of the city; 
he shall be elected at the general election 
in the year nineteen hundred and one. and 
every two years thereafter, and shall hold 
his office for the term of two years, com- 
mencing at noon on the first day of January 
after his election. The salary of the mayor 
shall be fifteen thousand dollars a yea*. 

Mayor’s power of removal. 

Sec. 95. The mayor, may, -whenever in his 
judgment the public interests shall so re- 
quire, remove from office any public officer 


15 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


holding office by appointment from a mayor 
of The City of New York, except members 
of the board of education, and aqueduct com- 
missioners, trustees of the College of The 
City of New Y'ork, and trustees of Bellevue 
and allied hospitals, and except also judicial 
officers for whose removal other provision 
is made by the constitution. No public 
officer shall hold his office for any specific 
term, except as in this act is otherwise ex- 
pressly provided. 

Administrative departments. 

Sec. 96. There shall be the following ad- 
ministrative departments in said city: 

Department of finance. 

Law department. 

Police department. 

Department of water supply, gas and elec- 
tricity. 

Department of street cleaning. 

Department of bridges. 

Department of parks. 

Department of public charities. 

Department of correction. 

Fire department. 

Department of docks and ferries. 

Department of taxes and assessments. 

Department of education. 

Department of health. 

Tenement house department. 

Department of finance; comptroller. 

Sec. 97. The head of the department of 
finance shall be called the comptroller of 
The City of New York. He shall be elected 
at the general electioh in the year nineteen 
hundred and one, and every two years there- 
after, and shall hold his office for the term 
of two years, commencing at noon on the 
first day of January, after his election. The 
comptroller may be removed from office by 
the governor in the same manner as sheriffs, 
except that the governor may direct the 
inquiry required by law, to be conducted by 
the attorney-general, and after charges have 
been received by the governor, he may, pend- 
ing the investigation, suspend the comptrol- 
ler for a period not exceeding thirty days. 
In case of a vacancy in the office of comp- 
troller, it shall be filled by the mayor, and 
the person appointed to fill such vacancy 
shall hold office until noon of the first day 
of January succeeding the election at which 
a successor shall be elected. At the next 
general election at which municipal officers 
shall be elected, which shall take place more 
than thirty days after the occurrence of a 
vacancy in the office of comptroller, a suc- 
cessor shall be chosen who shall hold office 
for the remainder of the unexpired term. 

Law department; corporation counsel. 

Sec. 98. The head of the law department 
shall be called the corporation counsel. 

Police department; police commis- 
sioner. 

Sec. 99. The head of the police department 
shall be called the police commissioner. 

Departments of water supply, run and 

electricity, street cleaning and 

bridges. 

Sec. 100. 1. The head of the department of 
water supply, gas and electricity shall be 
called the commissioner of water supply, gas 
and electricity. 

2. The head of the department of street 
cleaning shall be called the commissioner of 
street cleaning. 

3. The head of the department of bridges 
shall be called the commissioner of bridges. 


Department of parks; park board. 

Sec. 101. The head of the department o' 
parks shall be called the park board. Said 
board shall consist of three members who 
shall be known as commissioners of parks. 

Department of public cbnrlt ies; com 
missioner of public charities. 

Sec. 103. The head of the department or 
public charities shall be called the commis- 
sioner of public charities. 

Department of correction; commis- 
sioner of. 

Sec. 104. The head of the department of 
correction shall be called the commissioner of 
correction. 

Fire department; the fire commis- 
sioner. 

Sec. 105. The head of the fire department 
shall be called the fire commissioner. 

Department of docks and ferries; 
board of docks. 

Sec. 106. The head of the department of 
docks and ferries shall be called the commis- 
sioner of docks. > 

Department of taxes and assessments; 
board of taxes and assessments. 

Sec. 107. The head of the department of 
taxes and assessments shall be called the 
board of taxes and assessments. Said board 
shall consist of a president, who shall be so 
designated in his appointment, and four 
other members, one of whom at least shall 
be a person learned in the law, who shall be 
called commissioner of taxes and assess- 
ments. 

Department of education. 

Sec. 10S. The head of tho department of 
education shall be called the board of educa- 
tion and shall consist of forty-six members 
as hereinafter provided. 

Department of health; board of health. 

Sec. 109. The head of the department of 
health shall be called the board of health. 
Said board shall consist of the commissioner 
of health, the police commissioner, and the 
health officer of the port. 

Tenement house department. 

Sec. 110. The head of the tenement house 
department shall be called the tenement 
house commissioner. He shall be appointed 
by the mayor, and shall, unless sooner re- 
moved, hold his office for six years, and until 
his successor shall be appointed and has 
qualified. 

Hendx of departments and borough 
presidents; power to purchase sup- 
plies. 

Sec. 111. Each head of a department and 
each president of a borough shall have cog- 
nizance and control of the purchase of fuel, 
furniture, utensils, books and other articles 
needed for the public offices within his de- 
partment or jurisdiction. Supplies shall be 
furnished to heads of bureaus and all sub- 
ordinate officials only upon the receipt of a 
written requisition signed by the head of 
the office in which the same are required. 

Schedules of salaries to be presented 
when requested. 

Sec. 112. It shall be the duty of each bor- 
ough president and the head of each de- 
partment to present new' schedules of sal- 
aries for his office or department to the 
board of estimate and apportionment, when- 
ever requested by said board so to do. 


CHAPTER V. 

THE MAYOR. 

Mayor; duties of. 

Sec. 115. It shall be the duty of the mayor: 

1. To communicate to the board of al- 
dermen, at least once in each year, a gen- 
eral statement of the finances, government 
and improvements of the city. 

2. To recommend to the board of aider- 
men all such measures r.s he shall deem 
expedient. 

3. To keep himself Informed of the do- 
ings of the several departments. 

4. To he vigilant and active In causing 
the ordinances cf the city, and laws of the 
state to be executed and enforced, and for 
that purpose he may call together for con- 
sultation and co-operation any or all of the 
heads of departments. 

5. And generally to perform all such duties 
as may be prescribed for him by this act, 
the city ordinances and the laws of tho 
state. 

Id.: » magistrate. 

Sec. 116. The mayor is a magistrate. 

III.: may appoint clerks, etc. 

Sec. 117. Tho mayor may appoint such 
clerks and subordinates as he may require 
to aid him in the discharge of his official 
duties, and shall render to the board of al- 
dermen every three months, an account of 
the expenses and receipts of bis office, and 
therein shall state, in detail, the amounts 
paid and agreed to be paid by him, for sala- 
ries to such clerks aud subordinates re- 
spectively, and the general nature of their 
duties. w ; hich account and report shall be 
published in the City Record. The aggre- 
gate expenses incurred by him for such 
purposes shall not exceed, in any one year, 
the sum appropriated therefor. 

III.; to appoint beads of departments. 

Sec. 118. Tho mayor shall appoint tho 
heads of departments and all commission- 
ers, except as otherwise provided in this 
act. He shall also appoint all members 
of any board or commission authorized to 
superintend the erection or repair of any 
building belonging to or to be paid for by the 
city, whether named in any law or ap- 
pointed by any local authority, and also 
a commissioner of jurors for the boroughs 
of Manhattan and the Bronx, inspectors of 
weights and measures, and as many sealers 
of weights and measures as may by ordi- 
nance be prescribed, and also the members 
of any other local board and all other offi- 
cers not elected by the people, w r hose ap- 
pointment is not excepted or otherwise pro- 
vided for. Every head of department and 
person in this section named shall, sub- 
ject to the power of removal herein pro- 
vided, hold his office for such term as Is pro- 
vided by this act, or otherwise, and in each 
case until a person is duly appointed, and 
has qualified, in his place. 

III.; to appoint commissioners ot ac- 
counts. 

Sec. 119. The mayor shall appoint and re- 
move at pleasure two persons who shall be 
commissioners of accounts, one of whom 
shall be a certified public accountant. It 
shall be their duty, once In three months, 
to make an examination of the receipts and 
disbursements in the office of the comp- 
troller and chamberlain, in connection with 
those of all the departments and officers 
making returns thereto, and report to the 
mayor a detailed and classified statement 
of the financial condition of the city as 
shown by such examinations. They shall 


16 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


also make such special examinations of the 
accounts and methods of the departments 
and offices of the city and of the counties 
of New York, Richmond, Queens and Kings, 
as the mayor may from time to time direct, 
and such other examinations as the said com- 
missioners may deem for the best interests 
of the city, and report to the mayor and the 
board of aldermen the results thereof. For 
the purpose of ascertaining facts in connec- 
tion with these examinations they shall have 
full power to compel the attendance of wit- 
nesses, to administer oaths and to examine 
such persons as they may deem necessary. 
Such commissioners shall each be paid the sum 
of five thousand dollars a year. The board of 
estimate and apportionment and the board 
of aldermen shall annually appropriate a 
sum sufficient to pay the salaries of said 
commissioners, and in the discretion of said 
board and the board of aldermen a sum 
sufficient to enable them to employ the nec- 
essary assistance to carry out the provisions 
of this section. 

Id.; proclamation as to holding court 

in case of pestilence, etc. 

Sec. 120. The mayor, or, in case of his ab- 
sence, or other disability, the president of 
the board of aldermen, by proclamation, may 
direct that the next ensuing term of any 
court, other than the court of appeals, ap- 
pointed to be held in the city shall be held 
in any building within the City of New York, 
other than the building where the same is 
regularly to be held, if, in his opinion, war, 
pestilence, or other public calamity, or the 
danger thereof, or the destruction or injury 
of the building, or the want of suitable ac- 
commodation, renders it necessary that 
some other place be selected. The proc- 
lamation must be published in two or more 
daily newspapers, published in the City of 
New York. 

Id.; police power as to pawnbrokers. 

Sec. 121. The mayor shall possess the 
power conferred upon the chief, deputy 
chiefs, inspectors and captains of police by 
section three hundred and seventeen of this 
act. 

Id.; removal by governor. 

Sec. 122. The mayor may be removed from 
office by the governor in the same manner as 
sheriffs, except that the governor may direct 
the inquiry provided by law to be conducted 
by the attorney-general: and after the charges 
have been received by the governor, he may, 
pending the investigation, suspend the mayor 
for a period not exceeding thirty days. 

Municipal civil service; mayor to ap- 
point commissioners. 

Sec. 123. The mayor shall appoint three or 
more suitable persons, not more than two- 
thirds of whom shall be members of the 
same political party, who shall, in the manner 
defined by chapter three of the general laws, 
commonly known as the civil service law, and 
subject to and in pursuance or the provisions 
of that law and of such amendments as may 
from time to time be made to it. prescribe, 
amend and enforce rules for the classification 
of the offices, places and employments in the 
public service of the city, and for appoint- 
ments and promotions therein, and examina- 
tions therefor, and for the registration and 
selection of laborers for employment therein. 
Such persons shall constitute the municipal 
civil service commission, and, within the 
amount appropriated therefor, they shall 
have authority to appoint a secretary, exam- 


iners, and such other subordinates as may be 
necessary. Proper provision shall be made 
In the annual budget for all the expenses of 
the municipal civil service commission. 
Regulations of municipal civil service. 

Sec. 124. All appointments, promotions and 
changes of status of persons in the public 
service of The City of New York shall be 
made in the manner prescribed by the con- 
stitution of the state and in accordance with 
the provisions of chapter three of the general 
laws, commonly known as the civil service 
law, and such amendments as may be made 
thereto, and the provisions of this act. 

Authority and fluty of commissioners 
of municipal civil service. 

Sec. 125. The municipal civil service com- 
mission shall have the power to make inves- 
tigations concerning all matters touching the 
enforcement and effect of the provisions of 
the civil service law, in so far as it applies 
to The City of New York, and the rules and 
regulations prescribed thereunder, or con- 
cerning the action of any examiner or subor- 
dinate of the commission, or of any person in 
the classified municipal service, in respect to 
the execution of that act, and in the course of 
such® investigations each commissioner and 
the secretary shall have the power to ad- . 
minister oaths. The municipal civil service 
commission shall have the further power to 
subpoena and require the attendance of wit- 
nesses, and the production thereby of books 
and papers pertinent to the investigations 
and inquiries hereby authorized, and to ex- 
amine them, and such public records as it 
shall require in relation to any matter which 
it is required to investigate. For this purpose 
the commission shall possess all the power 
conferred by the code of civil procedure upon 
a board or committee, and may invoke 
the power of any court of record in 
the state to compel the attendance and 
testifying of witnesses or the produc- 
tion thereby of books and papers as afore- 
said. 

Warrants for payment of salary of 
person whose appointment has not 
been made under civil service law, 
prohibited. 

Sec. 126. Any officer of said city whose duty 
it is to sign or countersign warrants, shall 
not draw, sign or issue, or authorize 
the drawing, signing or issuing of any war- 
rant on the chamberlain or other disbursing 
officer of the city for the payment of salary 
to any person in its service whose ap- 
pointment or retention has not been in ac- 
cordance with the civil service law and its 
amendments and of the valid rules in force 
thereunder. 

■Veterans in mnnicipnl service. 

Sec. 127. All veterans either of the army 
or navy or the volunteer fire depart- 
ments, now in the service of either of the 
municipal and public corporations hereby 
consolidated, who are now entitled by law to 
serve during good behavior, or who cannot 
under existing law be removed except for 
cause, shall be retained in like positions and 
under the same conditions by the corporation 
constituted by this act. to serve under such 
titles and in such way as the head of the ap- 
propriate department or the mayor may 
direct. 

CHAPTER VI. 

DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE. 

Title 1. The comptroller. 

Title 2. The bonds and obligations of the 
city. 

Title 3. The chamberlain. 

Title 4. The sinking funds. 


Title 5. Appropriations and the board of 
estimate and apportionment. 

Title 6. Levying taxes. 

TITLE I. 

THE COMPTROLLER. 

General duties; settlement of claims; 

assent to certain contracts repaired; 

election; salary. 

Sec. 149. The department of finance shall 
have control of the fiscal concerns of the 
corporation. All accounts rendered to or 
kept In the other departments shall be sud- 
ject to the inspection and revision of the 
officers of this department. It shall irescribe 
the forms of keeping and rendering all city 
accounts, and, except as herein otherwise 
provided, the manner in which all salaries 
shall be drawn, and the mode by which all 
creditors, officers and employes of the corpo- 
ration shall be paid. All payments by or on 
behalf of the corporation, except as other- 
wise specially provided, shall be made 
through the proper disbursing officer of the 
department of finance, on vouchers to be 
filed in said department, by means of war- 
rants drawn on the chamberlain by the comp- 
troller, and countersigned by the mayor. The 
comptroller may require any person pre- 
• senting for settlement, an account or claim 
for any cause whatever, against the corpora- 
tion, to be sworn before him touching such 
account or claim, and when so svcorn, to an- 
swer orally as to any facts relative to the 
justness of such account or claim. Willful 
false swearing before him is perjury, and 
punishable as such. He shall settle and ad- 
just all claims in favor of or against the 
corporation, and all accounts in which the 
corporation is concerned as debtor or cred- 
itor but in adjusting and settling such claim* 
he shall, as far as practicable, be governed 
by the rules of law and principles of equity 
which prevail in courts of justice. No claim 
against the city or against any of the coun- 
ties contained within its territorial limits, 
or payable in the first instance from moneys 
in the city treasury for services rendered or 
work done or materials or supplies furnished 
except (1) claims reduced to judgment, or 
(2) awards, costs, charges and expenses duly 
taxed or ordered paid in judicial proceed- 
ings, or (3) claims arising under the provis- 
ions of contracts made at public letting In 
the manner provided by section four hundred 
and nineteen of this act, or (4) claims settled 
and adjusted by the comptroller, pursuant 
to the authority of this section, shall be paid 
unless an auditor of accounts shall certify 
that the charges therefor are just and reas- 
onable; and, except as hereinabove other- 
wise provided, all contracts with the city or 
any of such counties or with any public 
officer acting in its or their behalf, shall be 
subject to such audit and revision by the 
department of finance. The power hereby 
given to settle and adjust such claims shall 
not be construed to authorize the comp- 
troller to dispute the amount of any salary 
established by or under the authority of any 
officer or department authorized to establish 
the same, nor to question the due perform- 
ance of his duties by such officer, except 
when necessary to prevent fraud. If in any 
action at law against The City of New York 
to recover upon a claim not embraced within 
the exceptions hereinabove numerically speci- 
fied, the amount claimed by the plaintiff is 
in excess of the amount as audited and set- 
tled by the department of finance, the 
plaintiff must establish his claim by com- 
petent evidence of value, and no testimony 
shall be admitted to show a promise or 
agreement by any officer or employe of the 
city or of any of the counties contained 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


ir 


within its territorial limits, to pay any 
larger sum than the amount so audited or 
allowed by the department of finance. The 
comptroller shall not reduce the rate of in- 
terest upon any taxes or assessments below 
the amount fixed by law. No contract here- 
after made, the expense of the execution of 
which is not by law or ordinance, in whole 
or In part, to be paid by assessments upon 
the property benefited, shall be binding or 
of any force, unless the comptrollei shall in- 
dorse thereon his certificate that there re- 
mains unexpended and unapplied, as herein 
provided, a balance of the appropriation or 
fund applicable thereto, sufficient to pay the 
estimated expense of executing such contract, 
as certified by the officer making the same. 
But this provision shall not apply to work 
done, or supplies furnished, not involving 
the expenditure of more than one thousand 
dollars, unless the same is required by law 
to be done by contract at public letting. 
It shall be the duty of the comptroller to 
make such Indorsement upon every such con- 
tract so presented to him, if there remains 
unapplied and unexpended sucn amount so 
specified by the officer making the contract, 
and to thereafter hold and retain such sum to 
pay the expense Incurred until the said con- 
tract shall be fully performed. And such in- 
dorsement shall be sufficient evidence of such 
appropriation or fund In any action. The 
comptroller shall furnish to each head of de- 
partment, monthly, a statement of the unex- 
pended balances of the appropriation for 
his department. Wages and salaries, ex- 
cept as otherwise provided in this act, 
may be paid upon pay-rolls, upon which each 
person named thereon shall separately re- 
ceipt for the amount paid to such person, and 
In every case of payment upon a pay-roll the 
warrant for the aggregate amount of wages 
and salaries included therein may be made 
payable to the superintendent, foreman or 
other ofHcer designated for the purpose. The 
comptroller shall enter into, upon behalf 
of The City of New York, any lease author- 
ized by the commissioners of the sinking 
fund of property leased to the city. The 
assent of the comptroller shall be necessary 
to all agreements hereafter entered into by 
any city officer, board, commission or de- 
partment for the acquisition by purchase of 
any real estate or easement therein, when 
such an agreement involves an obligation 
to pay or an expenditure of any money on 
behalf of the city, and in any proceedings 
that may hereafter be had to acquire real 
estate or hereditaments for or on behalf of 
the corporation of the City of New York, be- 
fore an award shall be confirmed, imposing 
an obligation upon the city to pay any 
moneys, the comptroller shall have thirty 
days’ notice in writing, stating before whom 
and at what time such proceeding will take 
place; but nothing hereinbefore contained 
shall affect the board of rapid transit rail- 
road commissioners existing under chapter 
four of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-one as amended. The comptroller 
of The City of New York shall be elected and 
hold office as provided in this act, and shall 
receive an annual salary of fifteen thousand 
dollars, and shall account to and pay into the 
city treasury all fees and emoluments to 
which he may be entitled under the general 
tax law of the state of New York and all 
other statutes, whether general or special. 

Comptroller to appoint Jwo deputy 
comptrollers. 

Sec. 150. The comptroller shall appoint, 
and for cause to be stated in the City Record 
at pleasure remove, two deputy comptrollers. 


and an assistant deputy comptroller. 
The said deputy comptrollers shall, in ad- 
dition to their other powers, possess any or 
every power and perform any or every duty 
belonging to the office of comptroller, when- 
ever the said comptroller shall, by due writ- 
ten authority and during a period of time 
not extending beyond three months, nor be- 
yond his term of office, and to be specified in 
such authority, designate and authorize the 
said deputy comptrollers, or either of them, 
to possess such powers and perform such 
duties, and such designation and authority 
shall be duly filed in and remain of record in 
the department of finance and in the mayor’s 
office. The said deputy comptrollers shall 
possess the like authority in case of the dis- 
ability of the comptroller, upon the like 
designation of the mayor, which shall be 
filed and remain of record as aforesaid; hut 
such authority, derived from a designation 
from the comptroller or the mayor, may at 
any time be terminated in the same manner 
as it was created. The assistant deputy 
comptroller may be designated and author- 
ized by the comptroller to sign in his own 
name and in the place of the comptroller 
warrants drawn upon the city chamberlain. 
A warrant so signed by the assistant deputy 
comptroller, duly designated, shall be of the 
same force and effect as If signed by the 
comptroller. Such designation of the assist- 
ant deputy comptroller shall be in writing 
signed by the comptroller and in duplicate 
and shall be duly filed and remain of record 
in the department of finance and in the 
mayor’s office. The period for which said 
designation shall continue in force shall be 
specified therein and shall not be longer than 
three months nor extend beyond the term 
of office of the comptroller and may be ter- 
minated by the comptroller at any time by 
the filing in the department of finance and in 
the mayor’s office of a notice of such termi- 
nation signed by the comptroller. — As 
amended by the Laws of 1903, Chapter 258. 

Bureaus of tlie department- of finance. 

Sec. 151. There shall be flvo bureaus in this 
department: 

1. A bureau for the collection of revenue 
accruing from rents and interests on bonds 
and mortgages, and revenue arising from the 
use or sale of property belonging to or man- 
aged by the city, and the management of the 
markets, the stalls or stands in which shall 
be rented on permits, to be issued by the 
comptroller, all of such permits heretofore 
or to be hereafter issued to be revocable by 
the comptroller for good and sufficient cause, 
and not otherwise, which shall be known as 
the bureau for the collection of city revenue 
and of markets. The chief officer of such 
bureau shall be called the collector of city 
revenue and the superintendent of markets. 
It shall be lawful for such bureau, under the 
direction of the comptroller, to collect rental 
for the temporary use and occupation of- 
property acquired by the city for public pur- 
poses between the time of the acquisition 
thereof and the time when the same can be 
actually utilized for the purposes for which 
it was acquired, aDd of property which, hav- 
ing been originally acquired for public pur- 
poses, has ceased to be used for such pur- 
poses. 

2. A bureau for the collection of taxes, the 
chief officer of which shall be called the 
receiver of taxes. He shall receive a salary 
at the rate of five thousand dollars per an- 
num. 

3. A bureau for the collection of assess- 
ments, and of such taxes, assessments and 
water rents as are in arrears, the chief officer 


of which shall be called the collector of as- 
sessments and arrears. He shall receive a 
salary at the rate of four thousand dollars 
per annum. 

4. An auditing bureau, which under the su- 
pervision of the comptroller shall audit, re- 
vise and settle all accounts in which the city 
is concerned, as debtor or creditor, and the 
chief officers whereof shall be called audit- 
ors of accounts, to be appointed or removed, 
as shall be also deputy auditors, at the pleas- 
ure of the comptroller. During the absence 
of either or any or all of said auditoifs of ac- 
counts, from illness or other cause, said dep- 
uty auditors or any or either of them shall, 
when and to the extent he or they may be 
authorized so to do in writing by the comp- 
troller, perform the duties and exercise the 
powers of either or of any or of all of the 
said auditors of accounts. The said auditing 
bureau shall keep an account of each claim 
for and against the corporation, and of the 
sums allowed upon each, and certify the same 
to the comptroller, with the reasons for the 
allowance. The comptroller may detail any of 
such auditors and deputy auditors as he may 
deem proper to the borough hall of the bor- 
ough of Brooklyn, to the borough hall of the 
borough of the Bronx, to the borough hall of 
the borough of Queens and to the borough 
hall of the borough of Richmond, in addition 
to such as may be in the chief office of the 
comptroller in the borough of Manhattan. All 
such accounts arising from local improvements 
within the borough of Brooklyn may be audit- 
ed, revised and settled by the auditor or the 
auditors of accounts so detailed as aforesaid 
by the comptroller in the borough hall of the 
Borough of Brooklyn. All such accounts aris- 
ing from local improvements within the Bor- 
ough of Queens may be audited, revised and 
settled by the auditor or auditors of accounts 
so detailed as aforesaid by the comptroller in 
the borough hall of the Borough of Queens. 
All such accounts arising from local im- 
provements within the Borough of Richmond 
may be audited, revised and settled by the 
auditor or auditors of accounts so detailed 
as aforesaid by the comptroller in the borough 
hall of the Borough of Richmond. And all such 
accounts arising from local improvements 
within the Boroughs of Manhattan and The 
Bronx may be audited, revised and settled 
by any of the auditors of accounts in the chief 
office of the comptroller in the Borough of 
Manhattan, or, so far as the Borough of The 
Bronx is concerned. In the office to be located 
in the borough hall of the Borough of The 
Bronx, and the auditors of accounts may have 
such clerks and assistants, examiners, engi- 
neers, inspectors and employes as the comp- 
troller may deem necessary and proper, to 
be appointed by the comptroller. 

5. A bureau for the reception and safe keep- 
ing of all moneys paid into the treasury of 
the city, and for the payment of money on 
warrants drawn by the comptroller and coun- 
tersigned by the mayor, the chief officer of 
which shall be called the chamberlain. 

Appointment and bond of receiver of 
taxes and collector of assessments 
and nrrears. 

Sec. 152. The comptroller shall appoint the 
receiver of taxes and the collector of assess- 
ments and arrears. The receiver of taxes and 
the collector of assessments and arrears, be- 
fore entering upon the duties of their offices, 
shall each enter into a bond to The City of 
New York, to be approved by the chamberlain 
and comptroller In the penal sum of twenty- 
five thousand dollars, which bond shall be 
conditioned for the faithful performance of 
the duties of the office by the officer giving 
such bond. Every such bond shall be a Iteu 


18 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


on all th§ real estate held jointly and sever- 
ally by the said receiver or the said collector 
executing the same, as the case may be, or 
any surety thereto, within any of the coun- 
ties embraced In The City of New York, at 
the time of the filing thereof, unless there 
be named and described in or on any such 
bond, real estate In one or more of such 
counties equal in value to the amount of said 
bond and owned by a surety, in which case 
the said bond shall be a lien on such real 
estate so described and upon all the real 
estate of the said receiver or collector, as the 
case may be, and no other, and shall continue 
to be such Hen until the condition, togeth- 
er with all costs and charges which may ac- 
crue by the prosecution thereof shall be fully 
satisfied, not to exceed, however, the period 
of ten years after the time when the officer 
who has given such bond shall have ceased 
to hold his office, unless an action thereon 
has been commenced and shall then be pend- 
ing. 

Renewal of bond. 

Sec. 153. If at any time during the contin- 
uance in office of the said receiver of taxes 
or of any of the deputy receivers of taxes or 
of the collector of assessments and arrears 
or of any of the deputy collectors of assess- 
ments and arrears the comptroller shall deem 
any surety of them or either of them to be 
insufficient, he may require the said receiver 
or any deputy receiver, or collector or any 
deputy eollector to enter into a new bond to 
bo approved in like manner as herein pre- 
scribed, within such time as said comptroller 
may direct, not being less than ten days after 
requiring such new bond to be given; and in 
case of the neglect or refusal of any such of- 
ficer to furnish such bond within the time so 
directed, the comptroller may declare his 
office vacant. 

Accounts of receiver and collector and 

their deputies to be examined. 

Sec. 154. Whenever a receiver of taxes or 
any deputy receiver or a collector of assess- 
ments and arrears or any deputy collector 
shall cease to hold office, and within one year 
thereafter, it shall be the duty of the comp- 
troller to examine the accounts of such re- 
ceiver or collector or deputy, and if found 
correct to cause a certificate to that effect 
to be filed with the bond of such officer, and 
such certificate so filed shall be a full dis- 
charge and satisfaction of the conditions of 
such bond and the lien or liens thereby cre- 
ated. And if at any time during his continu- 
ance in office any such receiver, collector, or 
deputy receiver, or deputy collector shall exe- 
cute and file with the comptroller a new bond 
in the same form and penalty and approved 
as provided in section one hundred and fifty- 
two, it shall be the duty of the comptroller to 
examine and adjust the accounts of such 
receiver or collector or deputy, to the date of 
such filing, and, if found correct, to cause a 
certificate to that effect to be filed with the 
bond or bonds previously filed by such officer, 
and such certificate so filed shall be the full 
discharge and satisfaction of the condition 
of such prior bond or bonds and or the lien 
or liens thereby created. 

Receiver of taxes and collector of as- 
sessments and arrears) where to keep 

offices. 

Sec. 155. The receiver of taxes and the col- 
lector of assessments and arrears shall each 
have hi3 chief office in the borough of Man- 
hattan at such places as shall be, from time 
to time, by ordinance of the board of alder- 
men designated for that purpose. Each o' 
them shall also have an office in the borough 


of Brooklyn, in the borough of The Bronx, in 
the borough of Queens and in the borough of 
Richmond, at such places in said boroughs as 
shall be designated by the comptroller. 

Receiver of taxes ami collector of as- 
sessments and arrears may appoint 

deputies. 

Sec. 156. The receiver of taxes and the col- 
lector of assessments and arrears may each 
appoint the requisite number of deputy tax 
receivers and of deputy collectors of assess- 
ments and arrears respectively. Each of them 
shall take from each deputy so appointed by 
him a bond, in such penal sum and with such 
sureties as may be approved by him and by 
the comptroller and chamberlain, which 
bond shall run to the receiver or the 
collector, as the case may be. The 
City of New York and to whom it 
may concern, and shall he conditioned for 
the faithful performance of the duties of such 
deputy. The receiver of taxes, and his sure- 
ties shall be liable for the acts and defaults 
of the deputy receivers so appointed and the 
collector of assessments and arrears, aed his 
sureties, shall be liable for the acts and de- 
faults of the deputy collectors. Each bond 
taken in pursuance of the provisions of this 
section shall be filed with the comptroller. 
Each deputy receiver of taxes shall have all 
the powers and b« subject to all the duties 
of the receiver of taxes in respect to the col- 
lection and receipt of taxes, and each deputy- 
collector of assessments and arrears shall 
have all the powers and be subject to all the 
duties of the collector of assessments and 
arrears in respect to the collection of assess- 
ments and arrears. 

AVhere taxes, assessments anil arrears 

are due ami payable. 

Sec. 157 Taxes, assessments and arrears 
due upon property within the borough of 
Manhattan, shall be payable and receivable 
at the main offices of the receiver of taxes 
and of the collector of assessments and ar- 
rears, respectively, in said borough. Taxes, 
assessments and arrears due upon property 
situated in every other borough shall be pay- 
able at the offices of said receiver of taxes or 
collector of assessments and arrears, respect- 
ively, in the borough in which said property 
is situated. 

# 

Bond of receiver and collector to be 

tiled. 

Sec. 158. The bonds given by the receiver 
of taxes and the collector of assessments and 
arrears as hereinbefore provided shall be filed 
and remain in the office of the comptroller, 
and true copies thereof, certified by the comp- 
troller, shall be filed In the office of the clerk 
of each of the counties embraced within The 
City of New York and shall be public records. 
In case a certificate of the adjustment of the 
accounts of any receiver or collector be made 
as hereinbefore provided, a true copy thereof, 
certified by the comptroller, shall be filed in 
each of the offices In which a copy of the 
bond of said receiver or collector shall have 
been filed. 

Assessment lists to be filed. 

Sec. 159. There shall be kept in the 
office of the collector Of assessments 
and arrears a full and complete 
record, in detail, of all lists of assessments 
confirmed, whether by tbe supreme court 
or the board of revision or the board of as- 
sessors, with the date of confirmation and 
the date of entry under such record, which 
record shall be open to Inspection during 
office hours, and the same shall be received 
as presumptive evidence of the facts therein 
contained. An assessment shall become a 


lien upon the real estate affected thereby 
ten days after Its entry in the said record. 
If any- sueh assessment list affects property 
situated in any borough, other than the bor- 
ough of Manhattan, a copy of such list shall 
forthwith be transmitted to and filed in the 
office of the collector of assessments and ar- 
rears in the borough in which is situated 
the property so affected. 

Comptroller to appoint elerks ami as- 
sistants. 

Sec. 160. The comptroller shall appoint as 
many clerks and assistants to the receiver 
of taxes and the collector of assessments 
and arrears as may be necessary, and shall 
designate the boroughs in which they shall 
respectively perform their duties. 

Publication of financial statement. 

Sec. 161. It shall be the duty of the comp- 
troller to publish in the City Record within 
two months after the close of each calendar 
year, a full and detailed statement of the re- 
ceipts and the expenditures of the corpora- 
tion during tbe preceding year and the cash 
balance or surplus: and in every such state- 
ment the different sources of city revenue, 
and the amount received from each, the 
several appropriations made, the objects for 
which the same were made, and the amount 
of moneys expended under each, the money 
borrowed on the credit of the corporation, 
the authority under which each loan was 
made, and the terms on which the same was 
obtained, shall be clearly and particularly 
specified. 

Application of certain money*. 

Sec. 162. It shall be lawful for the comp- 
troller to apply the moneys accruing for 
Interest on the sales of lands In said city 
for unpaid taxes, assessments and water 
rents, or so much thereof as shall be re- 
quired. to the account or fund designated 
“lands purchased for taxes and assess- 
ments,” such moneys to be used for pur- 
chases by the corporation at such sales. 

Dedication of certain lands for mar- 
kets. 

Sec. 163. The lands in the ninth ward of 
that part of the corporation heretofore 
known as the mayor, aldermen and common- 
alty of the city of New York, bounded on the 
north by Bloomfield street, on the south 
by Gansevoort street, on the east by West 
street and Tenth avenue, and on the w-est 
by Thirteenth avenue, being a portion 
of the lands heretofore set apart by 
law for use as a market place, are 
hereby dedicated to market purposes, 
and shall be used and occupied as such 
iu the manner that may be designated and 
prescribed by the commissioners of the 
sinking fund, who shall have full power and 
authority in respect thereto. Said commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund may. In their dis- 
cretion, leasfe said lands to be used Tor pub- 
lic market purposes for such term of years, 
with such covenants, and for such annual 
rentals, as in their judgment shall be for 
the best interests of the city, or may pre- 
pare the same for use as a public market. 
The block of ground in said ward hounded on 
the north by Little Twelfth street, on the 
south by Gansevoort street, on the east by 
Washington street, and on the west by West 
street and Tenth avenue, is hereby declared 
to be a public market place, nud subject to 
the provisions of section two hundred and five 
of this act, shall be kept for tbe exclusive 
use of farmers and market gardeners. Any 


THE CHARTER OB 1 THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


19 


farmer or market gardener, or dealer In farm 
or garden produce, desiring to use such mar- 
ket, or the market in the borough of Brook- 
lyn known as the Wallabout farmers’ market, 
may present to the department of finance an 
affidavit, stating his name, residence, occupa- 
tion and a general description of the commod- 
ities which he desires to sell in any such 
market, together with a request that a license 
be issued to him to use the same. On the 
filing of such affidavit and the payment of a 
nominal fee sufficient to defray the cost of 
issuing said license the department of finance, 
if satisfied that such applicant is a proper 
person, shall issue to him a license to use 
such market for a period not to exceed one 
year. Such licenses shall be numbered, and 
registered in the department of finance, and 
the department of finance shall issue to such 
licensee a metallic tag or plate, with the 
number of such license thereon. Such tag 
or plate shall be of convenient form and suit- 
able design, approved by the department of 
finance. No person shall be permitted to use 
any such market except he be a holder of ono 
of said licenses, and while using such market 
shall at all times cause to be conspicuously 
displayed the tag or plate containing the num- 
ber of his license. The department of finance 
shall have sole charge and control of any 
such public market place and of the wagons 
employed in the business of selling farm and 
garden produce in said city, and shall have 
power to make suitable regulations concern- 
ing fees, the hours during which the said 
business shall be conducted and the general 
management of the same. 

Comptroller’s powers In Wnllabont 

market. 

Sec. 164. The department of. finance of The 
City of New York shall have sole charge and 
control of the Wallabout market lands in the 
borough of Brooklyn and of the wagons em- 
ployed in the business of selling farm and 
garden produce in and about said Wallabout 
market, and shall have power to make suit- 
able regulations concerning fees, the hours 
during which the said business shall be con- 
ducted and the general management of 
the same. The portion of the said market 
commonly known as farmers’ square shall 
be kept for the exclusive use of farmers and 
market gardeners. The comptroller shall 
have and be vested with all the powers ex- 
ercised by the commissioner of city works 
of the former city of Brooklyn, and shall 
have the sole power to lease any portion of 
the said market lands and renew existing 
leases on such terms and at such rentals as 
may b© agreed upon between him and the les- 
sees or holders, subject to the following 
provisions as to the rate of rent: In case the 
amount of rent for any renewal term of any 
lease be not agreed upon as aforesaid by the 
first day of January preceding the expiration 
of the previous term, the same shall, if 
either the comptroller or the lessee or hold- 
er shall so elect, be fixed as now provided 
by law except that the rent may, in the dis- 
cretion of the comptroller, be reduced. The 
rents for such renewal terms, whether 
agreed upon as above provided, or fixed as 
now provided by law, shall not be less than 
on amount equal to two-thirds of the rent 
of the preceding term, nor exceed an amount 
equal to the rent of the preceding term and 
one-third thereof in addition thereto. The 
comptroller may at any time, with the con- 
sent of the lessee or holder, vary or modify 
any of the provisions of any lease of such 
lands. The comptroller may also adjust and 
settle any claims and controversies in regard 
to rents and other matters that appertain 


to any lease both those which have hereto- 
fore arisen and any of which may hereafter 
arise during either the original term or any 
renewal or extension thereof as in his opin- 
ion Justice may require. Renewals of exist- 
ing leases shall be made according to the 
provisions thereof, unless within thirty days 
after the passage of this amendment, written 
notice be given to the said comptroller by the 
lessee or holder of his election that the said 
lease and renewals thereof be subject to the 
provisions of this section. The comptroller 
may in his discretion allow such notice to be 
given after the expiration of such thirty 
days, but nothing herein contained shall in- 
terfere with the jurisdiction of the depart- 
ment of docks and ferries of the City of New 
York over the piers, bulkheads and water 
front in and around said Wallabout market 
lands, nor with the Jurisdiction of the presi- 
dent of the borough of Brooklyn over said 
Wallabout market lands, so far as concerns 
his powers over highways. On and after 
the thirtieth day of April, nineteen hundred 
and four, distilled and rectified spirits, wine 
and fermented and malt liquors, shall not 
be sold or offered for sale in Wallabout 
market lands: and all leases of any portion 
of such lands, granted under the provisions 
of this section, shall contain a provision re- 
stricting and prohibiting the sale or offering 
for sale of any such spirits, wine and ferment- 
ed and malt liquors on any lands leaser there- 
by, and on and after the passage of this 
act, the state commissioner of excise shall 
not issue or renew any certificate permitting 
or authorizing the sale of distilled or rectified 
spirits wine and fermented and malt liquors 
within the limits of said Wallabout market 
lands or in any portion thereof. — As amended 
by Laws of 1903, Chapter 614. 

TITLE 2 . 

THE BONDS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE 
CITY. 

Corporate stock of the City of New 

York; how Issued; provisions ns to 

bonded indebtedness. 

Sec. 169. All bonds issued by the city of 
New York on and after January first, eight- 
een hundred and ninety-eight, in pursuance 
of laws already passed or which may here- 
after be passed, or in pursuance of the pro- 
visions of this act, excepting assessment 
bonds and revenue bonds, shall be known 
as "corporate stock of the city of New 
York.” For the redemption and payment of 
said corporate stock and the interest there- 
on, the faith and credit of the city of New 
York shall be and is hereby pledged. Such 
corporate stock shall be in such form as may 
be designated by the comptroller, and shall 
be signed by the said comptroller and the 
mayor of the city of New York, and sealed 
with the common seal of the city of New 
York, and attested by the city clerk. Such 
corporate stock shall be in coupon form in 
sums not less than five hundred dollars 
each share, or shall be registered, and shall 
bo conditioned to be paid in gold coin, or in 
the legal currency of the United States, at 
the option of the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund and shall be made redeemable at a 
period of not less than ten nor more than 
fifty years from the date thereof. Such cor- 
porate stock and all assessment bonds and 
revenue bonds, as well as all bonds here- 
after to be issued by the city of New York 
by virtue of this act or of any other act, 
whether general or special, shall be free and 
exempt from all taxation, except for state 
purposes. The interest on such corporate 
stock and on all other bonds of the corpora- 


tion except revenue bonds, shall not exceed 
four per centum per annum, and shall be 
made payable quarterly or semi-annually in 
the city of New York, or at such other place 
as may be fixed by the said comptroller at 
the time of issue of said stock or bonds; 
provided, however, that the interest on rev- 
enue bonds, issued in anticipation of the col- 
lection of taxes, may be made payable at 
the date of the maturity thereof. Such cor- 
porate stock may be authorized to be issued 
by the board of estimate and apportionment 
without the concurrence or approval of any 
other board or public body for the follow- 
ing purposes and within the following lim- 
itation's: 1. For the purposes specified in 
section one hundred and seventy of this act; 
2. For the purposes specified in section one 
hundred and seventy-four of this act; 3. For 
the purposes specified Infection one hundred 
and seventy-six of this act; 4. For the pur- 
poses specified in section onq hundred and 
eighty-four of thfs act; 5. For the purposes 
specified in section two hundred and thirty- 
five of this act; 6. For the purposes specified 
in section four hundred and twenty-two of 
this act; 7. For the purposes specified in 
section one hundred and seventy-eight of 
this act; to an amount not exceeding two 
million dollars in any one calendar year; 8. 
To pay the awards, costs, charges and ex- 
penses of acquiring title to lands required 
for public purposes and which have been or 
may hereafter be authorized by or pursuant 
to law; 9. For constructing and equipping 
school buildings and acquiring sites therefor 
to an amount not exceeding three million 
flvo hundred thousand dollars in any one cal- 
endar year; 10. For the repaving of streets 
to an amount not exceeding three million 
dollars in any ono calendar year; 11. For the 
Improvement of parks, parkways and drives 
to an amount not exceeding five hundred 
thousand dollars in any one calendar year. 
Corporate stock to be issued for purposes 
other than those hereinbefore in this section 
specifically enumerated, or for such purposes 
in excess of the amounts therein specified, 
shall be authorized by the board of aldermen 
with the approval of the board of estimate 
an/i apportionment as provided by section 
forty-seven of this act; provided, however, 
that wherever, by existing provisions of law, 
the commissioners of the sinking fund may 
be specifically authorized to provide for the 
issue of stocks or bonds, said authorization 
of the comptroller shall be made by said 
commissioners instead of said board of esti- 
mate and apportionment; and that nothing 
in this section contained shall affect the 
provisions of sections one hundred and 
eighty and two hundred and thirteen of this 
act; provided, however, that nothing in this 
section shall prevent the issue of general 
fund bonds in the manner provided by section 
two hundred and twenty-two of this act. — As 
amended by Laws of 1902, Chapter 563. — As 
amended by Laws of 1903, Chapter 103. 

Issue of stock or bonds Ivy Tlie City of 
New York to take tlie place of bonds 
authorized to he Issued by laws en- 
acted prior to January X, 1808. 

Sec. 170. Whenever, and to the extent to 
which, it may be lawful for the municipal or 
public corporations or parts thereof, includ- 
ing the counties of Kings and Richmond, 
which by this act are made part of the cor- 
poration of The City of New York, to issue 
for public purposes bonds pursuant to laws 
enacted prior to January first, eighteen hun- 
dred and ninety-eight, it shall bo lawful for 
The City of New T York, as hereby constituted, 
to issue corporate stock as herein provided 
for the same purposes; provided, however, 


20 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


that the amount so to be issued shall not in 
any one case exceed the balance remaining 
unissued of the amount limited to be issued 
pursuant to the authority of said laws. In 
similar instances assessment bonds and reve- 
nue bonds of The City of New York, as here- 
by constituted, may likewise be so issued, 
subject to the same limitations _as to the 
amount thereof. 

Bonds to be issued in sums of ten dol- 
lars or any multiple thereof. 

Sec. 171. Whenever it shall be lawful to is- 
sue any bonds of The City of New York, 
4s constituted by this act, the same, 
when issued in registered form, may be 
issued in denominations of ten dollars or any 
multiple thereof. Preference shall, as far 
as practicable, and without/ pecuniary disad- 
vantage to the said city eff New York, be 
given to applicants for the smallest amounts 
and smallest denominations of said bonds in 
"-"suing the same. 

Registration of stocks nnd bonds. 

Sec. 172. All stocks and bond6 heretofore 
lawfully issued by any of the municipal or 
public corporations or parts thereof, which 
have heretofore been annexed to or consoli- 
4ated with the corporation known as the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York, or which by this act are made 
part of the corporation of The City of New 
York, as hereby constituted, including the 
counties of Kings and Richmond, for the pay- 
ment of the principal and interest of which 
The City of New York is liable, may be reg- 
istered and must be recorded by the owners 
thereof in the comptroller’s office in said city, 
vnd shall be transferable at the pleasure of 
the holder, either in person or by attorney, 
only upon the books of the corporation in 
said office, and subject to such reasonable 
rules and regulation., as the comptroller may 
prescribe; such registry and transfer to be 
indorsed thereon by the comptroller. When- 
ever such stocks or bonds have been issued 
in coupon form, and whenever hereafter cor- 
porate stock of The City of New York may be 
so issued, it shall be the privilege of the 
holders thereof at any time, subject to such 
rules and regulations to convert the same 
into registered stock or bonds, and the comp- 
troller is hereby authorized to issue reg- 
istered stock or bonds therefor in the man- 
ner and form in which the same would have 
been conditioned if originally issued in reg- 
istered form. The interest on all such stocks 
and bonds when so registered shall, as the 
same shall become due and payable, be paid 
in like manner as upon other registered 
stocks and bonds of The City of New York; 
and whenever any such stocks or bonds have 
coupons attached, the comptroller shall, upon 
registration thereof, have authority to detach 
all coupons therefrom, and shall thereupon 
indorse the fact of such registration, with a 
reference to this section. 

Fund for street and park openings. 

Sec. 173. The fund heretofore established 
and accumulated in the treasury of the cor- 
poration known as the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of the city of New York, entitled 
the “fund for street and park openings',” 
shall be continued in the corporation of The 
City* of New York, as hereby constituted. The 
said fund for street and park openings shall 
consist of: 

1. Whatever cash balance in said fund may 
upon January first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight, be on deposit in the treasury of 
the corporation known as the mayor, aider- 


men and commonalty of the city of New 
York. 

2. Whatever cash balances there may be 
on January first, eighteen hundred and nine- 
ty-eight, in the treasuries or standing to the 
credit of the several municipal or public cor- 
porations or parts thereof which by this act 
are made part of the corporation of The City 
of New York, and which said cash balances 
may be applicable to the payment of damages 
awarded by the commissioners of es- 
timate and assessment in reports heretofore 
confirmed or hereafter to be confirmed in 
proceedings taken to open any street, road, 
avenue, boulevard, public square or place, 
park or parkway, or to acquire title to land 
required for any bridge, tunnel or approach 
thereto, and all the costs and expenses of such 
proceedings heretofore or hereafter taxed. 

3. Such sums as may be raised by taxation 
in The City of New York, and the proceeds of 
such bonds as may be issued as by this act 
provided to meet the expense, in whole or in 
part, of any of the objects and purposes in the 
preceding subdivision of this section specified. 

4. All moneys hereafter collected by The 
City of New 1 York, as hereby constituted, for 
or on account of assessments made and con- 
firmed and hereafter to be made and con- 
firmed for opening any street, road, avenue, 
boulevard, public square or place, park or 
parkway, or for acquiring title to land re- 
quired for any bridge, tunnel or approach 
thereto, wholly or partly within the limits of 
the several municipal or public corporations 
or parts thereof, which by this act are made 
part of the corporation of The City of New 
York. 

Damages, etc., to be paid from said 

fund. 

Sec. 174. From the said fund for street 
and park openings, and not otherwise, shall 
be paid all damages awarded by the commis- 
sioners of estimate and assessment In reports 
hereafter or heretofore confirmed in proceed- 
ings taken to open any street, road, avenue, 
boulevard, public square or place, park or 
parkway, or to acquire title to land required 
for any bridge, tunnel, or approach thereto 
in The City of New York, as hereby consti- 
tuted, and all the costs and expenses of such 
proceedings heretofore or hereafter taxed. 
The person or persons to whom aw'ards shall 
be made in such proceedings, wherein reports 
are or have been confirmed, and the person or 
persons in whose favor costs and expenses 
may be or have been taxed, shall not have 
an action at law against The City of New York 
for such awards, costs or expenses, but may 
require the officers of said city to raise, as 
hereafter provided, the money necessary to 
enable the comptroller to pay such awards, 
costs and expenses from the said fund, and 
thereafter compel the payment of such dam- 
ages, costs and expenses from such fund. 
Whenever the amount of the damages 
awarded in any report, together with the 
costs of the commissioners and the charges 
and expenses, shall exceed the balance re- 
maining in said fund after deducting all out- 
standing claims against said balance, the 
comptroller is authorized to raise by the issue 
and sale of revenue bonds such amounts as 
shall be necessary to pay such damages, costs 
and expenses; provided, however, that in 
each and every case in which by virtue of 
any existing statute or any statute hereafter 
enacted, or by virtue of any act or resolution 
heretofore or hereafter adopted by any board 
or body pursuant to any statute, the whole 
or any portion of the awards made in any 
proceeding, and of the costs and expenses 
thereof, are payable out of the fund for street 
and park openings and are not to be assessed 


upon the property benefited, but are to be 
borne and paid by The City of New York, 
the board of estimate and apportionment may, 
in its discretion, direct that the amount so 
to be borne and paid by said city of New 
York shall be raised by the. issue and sale 
of corporate stock of The City of New York, 
and tho comptroller shall thereupon issue 
and sell said stock at such times and in such 
amounts ae may be necessary, and shall pay 
the proceeds thereof into said fund for street 
and park openings. 

Replenishment of said fund. 

Sec. 175. The corporation counsel shall fur- 
nish to the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment in each year, at the time of making the 
estimate for the ensuing year, a list of all 
reports confirmed for the twelve preceding 
months with a statement of the amount of 
awards and costs taxed in each proceeding. 
The comptroller shall at th«j same time fur- 
nish to tho said board, statements of the 
amount of such awards and costs already 
paid, and of the amounts due for awards and 
costs payable from the said fund and still 
unpaid, and of the amounts of revenue bonds 
then outstanding, issued in pursuance of the 
last preceding section, and of the balance in 
the treasury to the credit of the said fund. 
The board of aldermen and the said board 
shall thereupon include in the annual budget 
for the ensuing year a sum sufficient, with 
such balance, to pay all claims for the awards 
and costs in all proceedings in which reports 
shall have been prior to that time confirmed, 
and which awards shall not then have been 
paid, and also a sum sufficient to pay and 
discharge the revenue bonds then outstand- 
ing and issued in pursuance of the last pre- 
ceding section. 

Payment of assessments Imposed npon 
The City of New York. 

Sec. 176. It shall be the duty of and lawful 
for the comptroller when thereto authorized 
by the board of estimate and apportionment 
to issue such amounts of the corporate stock 
of The City of New York as shall be neces- 
sary to provide the funds to enable said 
comptroller to pay any and all assessments 
and expenses imposed, or that may hereafter 
be imposed directly or indirectly upon The 
City of New York, by reason of the laying 
out, opening, regulating and grading or Im- 
proving any and all streets, roads, avenues, 
public parks, squares or places, or the con- 
struction of sewers and out of the proceeds 
of said stock to pay such assessments and 
expenses. 

Disposition of moneys received from 
certain assessments. 

Sec. 177. The moneys collected upon the 
assessments laid by the commissioners of 
estimate and assessment, appointed in pur- 
suance of sections six hundred and seventy 
to six hundred and seventy-eight inclusive 
of chapter four hundred and ten of the laws 
of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, as 
amended, shall be applied toward the pay- 
ment of the fund or stock authorized by 
section one hundred and forty of chapter 
four hundred and ten of the laws of eighteen 
hundred and eighty-two, or to the payment 
of said awards and expenses, if received be- 
fore the issue of said fund or stock. 

Expense relating; to the water supply, 
how to he met. 

Sec. 178. It shall be the duty of the comp- 
troller, and he is hereby authorized and di- 
rected when thereto authorized by the board 
of estimate and apportionment, or when the 
amount to be issued in any one year ex- 
ceeds the sum of two million dollars when 


I 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 




thereunto authorized by the board of alder- 
men and the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment, on requisition of the commissioner 
of water supply, to raise, from time to time, 
on the issue of corporate stock of The City 
of New York, amounts of money sufficient 
to pay the sums which may be necessary 
from time to time to be paid for the acquisi- 
tion of any real estate, or for the extin- 
guishment of any right, title or interest 
therein to be acquired or extinguished under 
the provisions of the laws relating to the 
supply of water to the city, together with 
all expenses necessarily incurred in survey- 
ing, locating and acquiring title to such real 
estate, or extinguishing claims, for damages 
thereto; and also all such sums as, from time 
to time, may be found necessary for the con- 
struction of aqueducts, reservoirs, dams, 
sluices, canals and appurtenances and for 
the distribution of water by mains, pipes 
or other conduits; and all such payments 
shall be made by the comptroller on the 
certificate of the commissioner of water sup- 
ply, gas and electricity. 

Bonds for drains. 

Sec. 179. It shall be the duty of the comp- 
troller, when thereto authorized by the board 
of estimate and apportionment, to issue as- 
sessment bonds in behalf of The City of New 
York, to an amount sufficient to raise the 
sum necessary to pay any damages that may 
from time to time be awarded to the owners 
of lands for the right of way required for 
drains and for the expense of plans and sur- 
veys and the fees of commissioners. The 
proceeds of such bonds shall be paid into the 
street improvement fund, from which fund 
payments as aforesaid shall be made, and 
assessments collected on account thereof 
shall be paid into said street improvement* 
—So in the original. 

Expenses of the department of docks 

and ferries t bow met. 

Sec. 180. The comptroller shall, from time 
to time, when authorized by the board 
of estimate and apportionment on the rec- 
ommendation of the commissioners of the 
sinking fund, issue corporate stock of The 
City of New York in such amounts as they 
may deem the public interests to demand, 
but not exceeding five million dollars in any 
one calendar year for the purpose of raising 
the money necessary to carry out the pro- 
visions of title one of chapter sixteen of 
this act, relating to the department of docks 
and ferries, its powers and duties. In case 
the public interests demand the issue of 
such bonds to an amount exceeding the sum of 
five million dollars in any one calendar year, 
the approval and authority of the board of 
aldermen shall be obtained therefor in the 
manner provided for by sections forty-seven 
and forty-eight of this act. The moneys re- 
ceived from sales of such stocks shall be de- 
posited in the treasury of the city and shall 
be drawn out and paid by the comptroller of 
Baid city for the several objects and pur- 
poses provided in said title, relating to the 
said department, its powers and duties, upon 
the requisition of the board of docks; pro- 
vided, however, that the commissioners of 
the sinking fund may specify from time to 
time in such detail as may seem to them 
proper the purposes to which the proceeds 
of the sale of such stock shall be applied, 
and it shall thereupon be unlawful for the 
board of docks to incur any liability or ex- 
pense in excess of any appropriation thus 
made. The expenses and compensation of 
said board, its rents, the compensation of its 
appointees, the purchase money and dam- 
ages awarded upon the acquisition of pri- 


vate property, the payments under the con- 
tracts authorized in said title and for work 
performed under the same, and all other ex- 
penses and disbursements necessarily in- 
curred in carrying out the said provisions of 
said title in keeping, maintaining, repairing, 
building and rebuilding the wharves belong- 
ing to the said corporation, in dredging and 
cleaning slips, in acquiring on behalf of the 
city real estate, property, plant or appliances 
required for the equipment, maintenance or 
operation of any ferry, or for terminal facili- 
ties or approaches thereto, upon the water 
front of the borough of Richmond, or upon 
the water front of the borough of Brooklyn, 
between Thirty-eighth street and Sixtieth 
street, shall be paid out of said moneys in 
the manner above provided. The limitation 
upon annual expenditure in this section shall 
not apply to expenditure made on account of 
the equipment, maintenance or operation of 
any such ferry, or on account of the acquisi- 
tion of property therefor, but the maximum 
sum mentioned may be expended annually 
for the other purposes and in the manner 
specified in said section. — As amended by 
Laws of 1903, Chapter 624. 

Assessment bonds. 

Sec. 181. It shall be lawful for the comp- 
troller, when authorized by the board of es- 
timate and apportionment to issue assess- 
ment bonds, at not less than par, for such 
periods as said comptroller may determine, 
not exceeding ten vears, and bearing interest 
at a rate not exceeding four per centum 
per annum, to provide the means necessary 
to pay all expenses incurred or to be in- 
curred on account of regulating and paving 
streets, building sewers, and all other work 
ordered to be done by contract, by virtue of 
ordinances which may be hereafter passed 
by the board of aldermen of The City of New 
York, the expense whereof is to be collected 
by assessment from the property benefited 
by said work or works, or on account of any 
local improvement or other public work here- 
tofore made or performed, or that shall here- 
after be made or performed under and by 
virtue of the authority of any law in all 
cases in which the said expense is to be paid 
in whole or in part by assessment upon the 
property benefited. No moneys shall be paid 
out of the proceeds of said bonds on account 
of any contract hereinbefore referred to, 
until a copy of said contract has been filed 
with the comptroller of said city by the presi- 
dent of a borough, the head of the depart- 
ment or board having such work in charge, 
and also a certificate in writing from the 
president of a oorough, head of such depart- 
ment or board, stating that a payment is 
due and the amount of such payment. On 
work contracted for subsequent to May sev- 
enth, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, or 
hereafter contracted for, no interest shall 
be charged on the monthly or other inter- 
mediate payments to any contractor, and 
thirty per centum, and no more, shall be re- 
served from the amount or value of work 
specified and certified from time to time to 
the comptroller of said city, by the proper 
officer, to have been done by any contractor; 
and such reserved thirty per centum shall 
be paid to such contractor on or before the 
expiration of thirty days from the comple- 
tion and acceptance of the work. The fund 
heretofore created by the corporation known 
as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of 
the city of New York, known as the “street 
improvement fund,” shall be continued, and 
into such fund shall be paid the proceeds of 
the sale of assessment bonds as by this sec- 
tion authorized, and of such bonds as may 
by other provisions of law be authorized to 
be issued for similar purposes within the ter- 


ritory of The City of New York, as hereby 
constituted, and for the payment of the ex- 
pense of which the said city may, in the first 
instance, become liable, as well as the cash 
balances of assessments already collected, or 
to be hereafter collected, on account of sim- 
ilar contracts duly entered into by the proper 
authorities of the several municipal or pub- 
lic corporations, or parts thereof, which by 
this act are consolidated with the corpora- 
tion known as the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of the city of New York. 

Proposals for bonds and stock here- 
after issued or purchased. 

Sec. 182. Whenever any bonds or stock 
shall be hereafter issued, other than revenue 
bonds, or such bonds and stocks as may be 
purchased for investment by the commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund, the' comptroller 
shall invite proposals therefor by public ad- 
vertisement, for not less than ten days, and 
shall award the same to the highest bidder 
or bidders therefor; provided, that no pro- 
posals for bonds or stocks shall be accepted 
for less than the par value of the same; and 
said proposals shall only be publicly opened 
by the comptroller, in the presence of the 
commissioners of the sinking fund, or such of 
them as shall attend. It shall be a condition 
of sale of such bonds and stocks, and the 
advertisement calling for proposals therefor 
shall so declare, that every bidder may be re- 
quired to accept a portion of the whole amount 
thereof bid for by him at the same rate 
or proportional price as may be specified in 
his bid; and any bid which conflicts with this 
condition shall be rejected. Every bidder, 
as a condition precedent to the reception or 
consideration of his proposal, shall deposit 
with the comptroller a certified check, drawn 
to the order of said comptroller upon one of 
the state or national banks of the said city, 
or a sum of money; such check or money to 
accompany the proposal to an amount to be 
fixed by the comptroller not exceeding two 
and one-half per centum of the amount of 
the proposal. Within three days after the 
decision as to who is or are the highest bid- 
der or bidders, the comptroller shall return 
all deposits made to the persons making the 
same, except the deposit made by the highest 
bidder or bidders, and if the said highest bid- 
der or bidders shall refuse or neglect, with- 
in five days after service of written notice of 
the award to him or them, to pay to the city 
chamberlain the amount of the stocks or 
bonds awarded to him or them at their par 
value, together with the premium thereon, 
less the amount deposited by him or them, the 
amount or amounts of deposit thus made 
shall be forfeited to and retained by said 
city as liquidated damages for such neglect 
or refusal, and shall thereafter be paid into 
the sinking fund of The City of New York 
for the redemption of the city debt. 

Expenses of restoring; street pave- 
ments; how met. 

Sec. 183. The moneys which the comp- 
troller is authorized to pay pursuant to the 
provisions of section three hundred and 
ninety-one of this act shall be obtained by 
him from time to time as may be necessary, 
by the sale of assessment bonds as provided 
by section one hundred and eighty-one of 
this act. The money collected pursuant to 
the provisions of said section three hundred 
and ninety-one shall be set apart, when col- 
lected, as a trust fund, and applied to the 
redemption of the principal and interest of 
said bonds. 

Redemption of certain bonds payable 

from collection of assessments. 

Sec. 184, If at any time hereafter the 
amount in the treasury of the city derived 


22 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


from collections of assessments shall be in- 
sufficient to meet and pay, when they be- 
come due and payable, any bonds issued by 
I‘he City of New York, as Hereby constituted, 
or any bonds heretofore issued by any of the 
municipal or public corporations or parts 
thereof hereby consolidated into The City 
of New York, for expenditures incurred on 
public Improvements, payable in w'hole or in 
part from assessments, then it shall be law- 
ful for the comptroller, when thereto au- 
thorized by the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment, to issue corporate stock of The 
City or New York for an amount sufficient to 
pay the bonds so falling due as aforesaid; or 
the comptroller may in his discretion, 
for such purpose, issue assessment bonds In 
the manner provided by section one hundred 
and eighty-one of this act. 

Deficiencies in collections of arrears 

of assessments; liow met. 

Sec. 185. The comptroller is hereby author- 
ized to Issue from time to time assessment 
bonds in the manner provided by section one 
hundred and eighty-one of this act, to pro- 
vide such amounts as may be required to 
meet the deficiencies caused by delay in col- 
lecting arrears of assessments; the aggre- 
gate amount so issued not to exceed at any 
time the aggregate amount of said arrears 
then outstanding. 

Bonds for state taxes. 

Sec. 186. For the purpose of enabling The 
City of New .York to make payment of the 
qaota of state taxes which may be Imposed 
upon, and chargeable to the said city and 
the counties wholly comprised therein, at 
the same time or times that other counties 
of this sta.te are or may be required to make 
payment by law, the comptroller is hereby 
authorized and required, unless the money 
for the payment of the same shall have been 
otherwise provided, to issue revenue bonds 
for such amounts as may from time to time 
become necessary to meet such quota of the 
State taxes, and from the proceeds there- 
of to pay to the state treasurer the amount 
Of taxes which the comptroller of the state 
shall have apportioned according to law, and 
Which may be required to be paid in pursu- 
ance of such apportionment to the state by 
The City of New York and said counties at 
Such times. 

Revenue bonds of city; special funds. 

Sec. 187. The comptroller is authorized to 
borrow, from time to time, on the credit of 
the corporation, in anticipation of its rev- 
enues, and not to exceed in amount the 
amount of such revenues, such sums as may 
be necessary to meet expenditures under 
the appropriations for each current year, 
deluding such amounts as are to be raised 
By The City of New York for county pur- 
rpra^es. Such amounts shall be obtained by 
the issue of revenue bonds, which shall bo 
redeemed out of the proceeds of the tax 
levy in anticipation of the collection of which 
such bonds were issued. Whenever the 
comptroller may be authorized by the pro- 
visions of this act, or by laws heretofore or 
hereafter enacted, to issue revenue bonds 
for purposes other than to meet expenditures 
under the appropriations for each current 
year, such revenue bonds shall be redeemed 
out of. the tax levy for the year next suc- 
ceeding t.he year of their issue, and the nec- 
essary appropriation therefor shall be made 
by the board of aldermen and the board of 
estimate and apportionment in the budget 
fbr such year. Such last mentioned bonds 
may be designated and known as “Special 
revenue V> • • ■ »..• c « • a 


funds in the treasuries or to the credit of 
the several municipal or public corporations 
or parts thereof, including the counties of 
Kings, Queens and Richmond, hereby 
consolidated with the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of The City of New York shall 
be transferred by the comptroller to like 
special funds of The City of New York, where 
such exist; and such special funds shall there- 
upon be liable for payments which would 
otherwise have been made out of the funds 
so transferred. Where no similar funds ex- 
ist in the treasury or to the credit of The 
City of New York, such special fund shall 
be, so far as practicable, administered in the 
same manner as they would have be^n ad- 
ministered if this act bad not been passed. 
Whenever it shall appear that the charges 
and liabilities of any such special fund ex- 
ceed the available assets thereof, it shall 
be lawful for the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment. upon the written request of the 
comptroller, to authorize the issue of rev- 
enue bonds or assessment bonds or corporate 
stock of The City of New York, for the pur- 
pose of supplying such deficiency. 

Special revenue bonds. 

Sec. 188. The comptroller is authorized to 
issue special revenue bonds to provide the 
means necessary to make payments for the 
following purposes: 

1. The expenses necessarily Incurred In con- 
demning unsafe buildings as provided by sec- 
tion five hundred and eleven of chapter four 
hundred and ten of the laws of eighteen hun- 
dred and eighty-two. 

2. Amounts audited by the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment pursuant to section 
two hundred and thirty-one of this act. 

3. Such amounts as may he necessary to 
pay judgments recovered against the corpor- 
ation; provided, however, that when such 
judgments shall have been recovered for 
county charges or liabilities of any of the 
counties included within the territorial lim- 
its of The City of New York, separate ac- 
counts shall he kept thereof. The corpora- 
tion counsel shall, in all such cases, advise 
the comptroller as to the amount of such 
county liability and the county incurring the 
same, and it shall, thereupon, be the duty 
of the comptroller in making the certificate 
to the board of aldermen, required by sec- 
tion nine hundred and two of this act In re- 
spect to county charges, to Include in the 
amounts chargeable against each of such 
counties the amounts of such judgments re- 
spectively paid on account thereof during the 
preceding calendar year. It shall also be the 
duty of the comptroller in estimating the 
revenues of the general fund for the reduc- 
tion of taxation as required by section nine 
hundred of this act, to Include the amounts 
which shall be respectively chargeable against 
each of such counties. 

4. The amount appropriated in pursuance of 
section two hundred and thirty-six of this 
act in those cases in which the appropria- 
tions are made after the final passage of the 
annual appropriation and the certification to 
the board of aldermen of the amount to be 
raised. 

5. The amount necessary to defray the ex- 
pense of supplying water meters as authorized 
by section four hundred and seventy-five of 
this act. 

6. To provide for deficiencies in the fund 
for street and park openings as provided in 
section one hundred and seventy-four of this 
act. 

7. To provide for the payment of claims, 
charges, expenses and appropriations which 
have been or may be lawfully payable by 

..«• 0 liv 'Jc .v i . a; ij i , • ..lu. • 


ed, and the several counties wholly Included 
within Its limits, and for which no other pro- 
vision for payment has been made. Separate 
accounts shall be kept of the bonds issued 
and payments made on account of county 
charges and expenses, and the comptroller 
shall similarly certify the amounts thereof 
to be raised by tax in the respective coun- 
ties and to be included in the general fund 
for the reduction of taxation as provided by 
subdivision three of this section in the case 
of judgments. 

8. To provide for the payment of expenses 
authorized by the concurrent vote of all the 
members of the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment upon a resolution requesting such 
authorization, adopted by the affirmative vote 
of three-fourths of all the members of the 
board of aldermen; provided, however, that 
the amount thus issued shall not in any one 
year exceed one million dollars. 

9. To meet and pay the expenses incurred 
pursuant to the provisions of sections eleven 
hundred and seventy-seven and eleven hun- 
dred and seventy-eight of this act. 

TITLE 3. 

THE CHAMBERLAIN. 

How appointed; bond. 

Sec. 194. The chamberlain shall be ap- 
pointed in the same manner as beads of de- 
partments. He shall, within ten days after 
receiving notice of his appointment and before 
he enters upon his office, give a bond to the 
people of the state of New York In the sum of 
three hundred thousand dollars, with not less 
thqn four sufficient sureties to be approved 
by the comptroller, conditioned that he will 
faithfully discharge the duties of his office 
and all trusts imposed on him by law In vir- 
tue of his office. Such bond shall be deemed 
to extend to the faithful execution of the 
duties of the office until a new appointment 
shall be made and confirmed, and the person 
so appointed enters upon the performance of 
his duties. In case of any official misconduct 
or default on the part of such chamberlain, 
or his subordinates, an action upon such bond 
may be begun and prosecuted to judgment 
by the attorney-general, or by the city, which 
shall, after first paying therefrom the ex- 
penses of the litigation, cause the proceeds 
of such judgment to be distributed as shall 
be lawful and equitable among the persons 
and objects injured or defrauded by such offi- 
cial misconduct or default of said chamber- 
lain, or any of his subordinates. 

Duties; accounts of to be examined by 

commissioners of accounts. 

Sec. 195. Said chamberlain shall exhibit to 
the board of aldermen, at Its first meeting In 
the month succeeding that In which he enters 
upon the execution of his office, an exact 
statement of the balance in the treasury to 
the credit of the city, with a summary of the 
receipts and payments of the treasury during 
the preceding year, and since the last preced- 
ing report required by law, if more than a 
year shall have elapsed since such report. He 
shall receive all moneys which shall from 
time to time be paid into the treasury of the 
city. He shall deposit all moneys which shall 
come into his hands on account of the city 
on the day of the receipt thereof, or on the, 
business day next succeeding, in such banks 
and trust companies as shall have been desig- 
nated as deposit banks in pursuance of the 
next section; but no amount shall be on de- 
posit at any one time in any one bank or 
trust company exceeding one-half of the 
amount ef the capital and net surplus of such 
l. ~k or 1 i. :.v. 'i . c . so 


THE) CHAPTER OP THE CITY OP NEW YORK. 


posited shall be placed to the account of the 
chamberlain, and he shall keep a bank book, 
In which shall be entered his accounts of de- 
posit in, and moneys drawn from the banks 
and trust companies in which the deposits i 
shall be made. The said banks and trust com- 
panies shall, respectively, transmit to the 
comptroller a weekly statement of the mon- 
eys which shall be received and paid by them 
on account of the city treasury. The cham- 
berlain shall pay all warrants drawn on the 
treasury by the comptroller and countersigned 
by the mayor, or the chief clerk of the mayor 
when empowered by the mayor in writing so 
to do, and no moneys shall be paid out of 
the treasury except on the warrant of the 
comptroller so countersigned. No such war- 
rant shall be signed by the comptroller or 
countersigned by the mayor, except upon 
vouchers for the expenditure of the amount 
named therein, examined and allowed by an 
auditor of accounts, approved by the comp- 
troller and filed in the department of finance, 
except in the case of judgments, in which 
case a transcript thereof shall be filed, nor 
except such warrant shall be authorized by 
law or by ordinance, and shall refer to the 
law or ordinance, and to the appropriation 
under and from which it is drawn. The 
chamberlain shall not draw any moneys of 
the city treasury from said banks or trust 
companies unless by checks subjoined and 
attached to such warrants and subscribed by 
him as chamberlain, and no moneys shall be 
paid by either of the said banks or trust com- 
panies on account of the treasury except 
upon such checks; provided, however, that 
this provision shall not apply to transfer 
checks transferring funds from one city de- 
pository to another. The chamberlain shall ex« 
hibit his bank book to the comptroller on the 
first Tuesday of every month, and oftener 
when required. The accounts of the chamber- 
lain shall be annually closed on the last day of 
December and shall be examined in the 
month of January in each year by the com- 
missioners of accounts. Such commission- 
ers shall examine the accounts and vouch- 
ers of all moneys received into and paid 
out of the city treasury during the year 
ending on the last day of December next 
preceding such examination, and shall certify 
and report to the mayor and board of al- 
dermen in the following month of February 
the amount of moneys received into the 
treasury during such year, the amount of 
moneys paid out during the same period by 
virtue, of warrants drawn on the treasury 
by the comptroller, the amount of moneys 
received by the chamberlain who shall be 
in office at the time of such examination, if 
he entered upon the execution of his duties 
since the last preceding report, the balance 
in the treasury on the last day of Decem- 
ber preceding such examination, the amount 
of moneys borrowed for or on the credit of 
the city during such year and the amount of 
the bonds of the city issued during such 
year, with the purposes for which and the 
authority under which such bonds were is- 
sued. Such commissioners shall also com- 
pare the warrants drawn by the comptroller 
on the treasury during the year ending on 
the last day of December preceding such 
examination, with the several laws and 
ordinances under which the same shall pur- 
port to have been drawn, and shall in like 
manner certify and report whether the 
comptroller had power to draw such war- 
rants; and if any shall be found which, in 
their opinion, he had no power to draw, they 
ehall specify the same in their report, with 
th.-Ir t'r.zz~3 f -t-:-. ' . h-l'.r 


Puhltc moneys; where to be deposited; 
salary of cliamberluin. 

Sec. 196. The said chamberlain and mayor 
and comptroller shall, by a majority vote, 
by written notice to the comptroller, desig- 
nate the banks or trust companies in which 
all moneys of The City of New York shall 
be deposited, and may, by like notice in 
writing, from time to time change the banks 
and trust companies thus designated; but 
no such bank or trust company shall be 
designated unless its officers shall agree to 
pay into the city treasury interest on the 
daily balances at a rate to be fixed by the 
mayor and chamberlain and the said comp- 
troller of The City of New York, by a ma- 
jority vote, which rate shall be so fixed 
quarterly, on the first days of February, 
May, August and November in each year, 
according to the current rate of interest 
upon like balances deposited in banks and 
trust companies in The City of New York 
by private persons and corporations. The 
said chamberlain shall keep books show- 
ing the receipts of moneys from all sources, 
and designating the sources of the same, 
and also showing the amounts paid from 
time to time on account of the several ap- 
propriations, and no warrants shall be paid 
on account of any appropriation after the 
amount authorized to be raised for 
that specific purpose shall have been 
expended. The said chamberlain shall 
once in each week report in writing 
to the mayor and to the comptroller 
all moneys received by him, the amount of 
all warrants paid by him since his last 're- 
port, and the amount remaining to the credit 
of the city. The chamberlain shall receive 
the sum of twelve thousand dollars annual- 
■ ly, and no more, for his services as cham- 
berlain of said city, and as county treasurer 
of the county of New York, In lieu of all 
salary and of all interest, fees, commissions 
and emoluments; and all such interest, fees, 
commissions and emoluments shall be ac- 
counted for and paid over by him to the 
city treasury, except that the commissions 
or compensation provided by law, and re- 
ceived by him for receiving and paying over 
the state taxes, and all interest which accrue 
on deposits shall be paid by him to the com- 
missioners of the sinking fund. He may ap- 
point and remove at pleasure, deputy cham- 
berlains, and such clerks and assistants as 
may be necessary, whose salaries, together 
with all the expenses of his office, shall be 
paid by The City of New York when fixed 
by the board of aldermen on the recommen- 
dation of the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment. 

Certain sections of code of civil pro- 
cedure respecting: moneys paid into 
court applicable. 

See. 197. Each provision of title three of 
chapter eight of the code of civil procedure, 
relating to a county treasurer, applies to 
the chamberlain, with respect to money paid 
into court, in an action triable in The City 
of New York, as hereby constituted, or with 
respect to money, or a bond, mortgage, or 
other security, or public stock, representing 
money paid into court, except where special 
provision, with respect to the same, is other- 
wise made by law, and the chamberlain shall 
perform all the duties prescribed by said pro- 
vision of law in the counties of New York, 
Kings, Queens and Richmond. 

Fees. 

Sec. 198. The chamberlain is entitled, for 
the services specified in this section, to col- 
lect for, and on behalf of the city the fol- 

V.-.-.-lti .'ccs- Fcr rc''ivipr mc~,-y p:,M ir.to 


23 


the court, one -half of one per centum upon 
the sum so received. For paying out the 
same, one-half of one per centum upon the 
sum so paid out. For Investing money, pur- 
suant to the direction of the court, one- 
half of one per centum upon the sum In- 
vested, not exceeding two hundred dollars, 
and one-quarter of one per centum upon the 
excess over two hundred dollars. For re- 
ceiving the interest upon an investment, and 
paying the same to the person entitled there- 
to, one-half of one .per centum upon the 
interest so received and paid. All of said 
fees when collected by said chamberlain shall 
be paid by him into the city treasury, as pro- 
vided in section one hundred and ninety- 
six of this act. 

TITLE 4. 

THE SINKING FUND. 

Commissioners of tlie sinking fund; 

how constituted. 

Sec. 204. There shall be a board of com- 
missioners of the sinking fund composed 
of the mayor, comptroller, chamberlain, 
president of the board of aldermen and chair- 
man of the finance committee of the board of 
aldermen, with all the powers and duties now 
assigned, designated and reposed by law or 
ordinance in the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund of The City of New York, as here- 
tofore constituted, of the city of Brooklyn 
and of Long Island City, or the officers en- 
trusted with similar powers and duties in any 
of the municipal or public corporations or 
parts thereof, including the counties of Kings 
and Richmond, hereby consolidated with the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New r York, except as otherwise provided 
by this act. The said board shall administer 
each of the said several sinking funds, and 
perform, carry out and exercise the several 
trusts, powers, obligations and duties relating 
thereto, in the same manner as ' the same 
would have been administered, performed, 
carried out and exercised if this act had not 
been passed, except as otherwise provided in 
this act. -The assets and accounts of each of 
said sinking funds shall, except as hereinafter 
otherwise provided, be kept separate and dis- 
tinct, and the same shall in all respects be 
administered as independent trusts, subject 
to and governed by the several provisions of 
law or ordinance heretofore relating thereto, 
with the intent and purpose of preserving in- 
violate the rights of holders of bonds and 
stocks heretofore issued by any of tfte mu- 
nicipal and public corporations or parts there- 
of hereby made of The City of New York, 
including the counties of Kings and Rich- 
mond. 

Powers. 

Sec. 205. The said board shall, except as In 
this act otherwise specifically provided, have 
power to sell or lease for the highest mar- 
ketable price or rental at public auction or 
by sealed bids, and always after public ad- 
vertisement for a period of at least fifteen 
days in the City Record, and after appraisal 
under the direction of said board made within 
three months of the date of Kale, any city 
property except parks, wharves and piers and 
land under water, but no such lease shall run 
for a term longer than ten years nor a re- 
newal for a longer period than ten years. 
If such property be market property it shall 
be sold only pursuant to a resolution adopted 
by an unanimous vote of the commissioners 
of the sinking fund, concurred in by the board 
of aldermen. The commissioners of the sinking 
fund shall have power to assign to use for any 
,--.ib)'o •jur^-.scs " r 7 :i'y ,'r-;rrtv. ,’er T.hntso* 


24 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


ever purpose originally acquired, -which may 
be found by the department having control 
thereof to be no longer required for such 
purpose. The proceeds of said sale or leasing 
shall on receipt thereof, after paying neces- 
sary charges, be immediately paid to the 
credit of the sinking fund for the redemption 
of the city debt. Said commissioners of the 
sinking fund shall have power, by unanimous 
vote, to settle and adjust by mutual convey- 
ances or otherwise, and upon such terms and 
conditions as may seem to them proper, dis- 
putes existing between the city and private 
owners of property, in respect to boundary 
lines, and to release 6uch interests of the 
olty in real estate as the corporation counsel 
shall certify in writing to be mere clouds 
upon titles of private owners, in such manner 
and upon such terms and conditions as in 
their judgment shall seem proper. Said com- 
missioners of the sinking fund shall also have 
power to sell and convey the right, title and 
interest of the city in and to lands lying 
within any street, avenue, road, highway, 
alley, lane or public place or square that 
has been discontinued and closed, in whole 
or in part, by lawful authority, to the owner 
of lands fronting on such street, avenue, road, 
highway, alley, lane or public place or square 
so discontinued and closed, on such terms 
and conditions and for such consideration as 
In the judgment of the said commissioners of 
the sinking fund shall seem proper, provided 
the said commissioners of the sinking fund 
shall first determine that the said lands or 
the part thereof so sold and conveyed are 
not needed for any public use. The pro- 
visions of existing laws or ordinances rela- 
tive to the investment of moneys and assets 
of the several sinking funds hereby made sub- 
ject to the control of the commissioners of 
the sinking fund, as hereby constituted, In 
bonds, stocks or obligations of the municipal 
or public corporations or parts thereof hereby 
consolidated into The City of New York, In- 
cluding the counties of Kings and Richmond, 
shall hereafter apply to investment thereof 
in the bonds and stock of the corporation of 
The City of New York, Issued on and after 
January first, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
eight, provided, however, that such bonds 
or stocks shall not thereupon or thereafter 
be cancelled, except as herein otherwise spe- 
cifically provided, but the same shall upon 
their maturity be paid off, liquidated or dis- 
charged In the same manner as they would 
be if held by private creditors. It shall be 
lawful for the commissioners of the sinking 
fund In their discretion, and they are hereby 
empowered in such discretion, to cancel from 
time to time, but not before maturity, bonds 
and stocks of any of the municipal and public 
corporations or parts thereof forming part of 
the corporation of The City of New York, as 
hereby constituted, and of the counties of Kings 
and Richmond, which may be held by any of 
said sinking funds on December thirty-first, 
eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, providing 
said bonds and stocks are by law redeemable 
from the sinking funds in which the same 
are held. It shall also be lawful for the 
commissioners of the sinking fund in their 
discretion, and they are hereby empowered 
in such discretion, to cancel from time to 
time, but not before maturity, any portion of 
the indebtedness of The City of New York, 
as hereby constituted, incurred on or after 
January first, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
eight, which may be held by them in the 
"sinking fund of The City of New York,” 
as hereinafter constituted, and" which may by 
law.be redeemable from said sinking fund 
as herein or elsewhere provided, and all such 
similar Indebtedness incurred to provide for 


the supply of water, which may be held 
by them and redeemable from "the water 
sinking fund of The City of New York” as 
hereinafter constituted. The funds to be 
known as the “sinking fund- of The City of 
New York” and the "water sinking fund of 
The City of New York,” as hereinafter con- 
stituted, shall be administered by the com- 
missioners of the sinking fund, in like man- 
ner as provided by the ordinance of the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York, approved by the mayor, Feb- 
ruary twenty-second, eighteen hundred and 
forty-four, so far as the same may be ap- 
plicable; provided, however, that nothing con- 
tained in said ordinance shall affect or alter 
the composition of the board of commission- 
ers of the sinking fund, as by this act con- 
stituted. The commissioners of the sinking 
fund may by resolution assign the places 
where the several municipal courts shall be 
held withing their respective districts and 
may assign such place in said city as may 
to it seem most conducive to the public con- 
venience, for the holding of the courts of 
general and special sessions, and, upon the 
application of the board of city magistrates, 
may designate additional places for the hold- 
ing of magistrates’ or police courts and jail 
delivery to be held in and fbr the city; notice 
of any change of the places of holding such 
courts shall, before the same takes effect, be 
published in the City Record and the corpora- 
tion newspapers, for a period of not less than 
two weeks. Said publication shall be made 
under the direction of the comptroller. The 
commissioners of the sinking fund may by 
resolution designate from time to time any 
building or buildings -within the city to be 
the common jails of said city or of any of the 
counties contained within its territorial lim- 
its for all the purposes for which common 
jails may by law be used, and such building 
or buildings so designated shall be such com- 
mon jails until changed by a like resolution 
of the commissioners of the sinking fund. 
The sinking fund commissioners of The City 
of New York shall not have the power in any 
event to compromise or release any existing 
liability or obligation to The City of New 
York or to the mayor, aldermen and com- 
monalty of the city of New York, or to any 
of the municipalities or parts of municipali- 
ties consolidated with the former city of New 
York, under the provisions of chapter six 
hundred and forty-two of the laws of eighteen 
hundred and eighty-six or under chapter four 
hundred and thirty-four of the laws of eight- 
een hundred and ninety-three; but such lia- 
bilities and obligations shall be and remain 
inviolable. — As amended by Laws of 1903, 
Chapter 379. 

The sinking; fund of The City of New 
York. 

Sec. 206. There shall be created a fund to 
be known as the “sinking fund of The City 
of New York,” which shall have for its pur- 
poses the liquidation of the principal of the 
debt of the corporation of The City of New 
York incurred on or after January first, 
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, as to 
which no provision for the payment there- 
of otherwise than from taxation is made, 
and excepting revenue bonds and bonds is- 
sued to provide for the supply of water. 
For the redemption of such debt out of said 
sinking fund there shall be annually included 
in the budget and paid Into the sinking fund 
of The City of New York herein created, an 
amount to be estimated and certified by the 
comptroller, and to be by the board of aider- 
men and the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment inserted in the budget for each year. 


which with the accumulations of interest 
thereon shall be sufficient to meet and dis- 
charge such bonds or stocks by the time 
the same shall be payable; provided, how- 
ever, that there shall be deducted from said 
amount, the amounts annually received from 
the operation of any rapid transit railroad or 
railroads for the construction of which bonds 
shall have been issued pursuant to the pro- 
visions of the rapid transit act applicable 
to The City of New York or any municipal 
corporation or territory embraced therein. 
Whenever the bonds and stocks outstanding 
on December 31, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven, and being charges or liens on any 
of the sinking funds hereby made subject 
to the control of the commissioners of the 
sinking fund, shall in respect to any such 
sinking fund be wholly discharged, liquidated 
or canceled, it shall thereupon be lawful for 
the commissioners of the sinking fund to 
cancel such bonds of the corporation of The 
City of New York issued on or after January 
first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, as 
may’ be held by such sinking fund, and the 
revenues of such sinking fund when thus re- 
lieved of such liens or charges shall there- 
upon and thereafter be paid into the sinking 
fund of The City of New York, as herein 
created. Whenever such payments shall be 
made, the comptroller in making the certi- 
ficate to the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment by this section required shall take into 
account the amount thereof, and deduct the 
same from the estimated amount to be in- 
cluded in each year's budget as herein pro- 
vided. 

Sinking; fnmls for redemption purposes 

to be continned. 

Sec. 207. The fund known as “the 
sinking fund of The City of New York for 
the redemption of the city debt,” and the 
fund known as "the sinking fund of the city 
of Brooklyn,” and the like funds of each and 
every of the municipal or public corporations 
or parts thereof by this act consolidated 
with the corporation known as “the mayor, 
aldermen and commonalty of The City of New 
York,” including the counties of Kings and 
Richmond, shall be continued, and the funds, 
moneys, revenues and assets heretofore 
pledged and appropriated to each of said 
funds shall continue to be and the same 
are hereby pledged and appropriated there- 
to severally and respectively in the same 
manner as though this act had not been 
passed until such time as the bonds, 
stocks and obligations outstanding on 
December thirty-first, eighteen hundred 
and ninety-seven, and redeemable there- 
from, shall have been respectively can- 
celed, liquidated, discharged and redeemed. 
Wherever, by existing laws or ordinances, 
the duty is imposed upon boards or offi- 
cers of the several municipal or publio 
corporations or parts thereof hereby consoli- 
dated with the mayor, aldermen and common- 
alty of The City of New York, including the 
counties of Kings and Richmond, to raise by 
taxation, annually or otherwise, amounts of 
money for sinking fund purposes, or for the 
redemption of or payment of interest on 
bonded indebtedness, for which The City of 
New York as hereby constituted, is by this 
act made liable, it shall be the duty of the 
proper officers of the said The City of New 
York in like manner to raise such amounts 
by taxation upon the estates, real and per- 
sonal, subject to taxation in said city. 

Sinking; funds created pursuant to con- 
stitutional requirements! water sink- 
ing fund of Tlie City of New York. 

Sec. 208. There shall be created a fund to 
be known as the "water sinking fund of Th® 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


25 


City of New York.” which shall have for Its 
purpose the liquidation of the principal of 
the debt incurred by The City of New York, 
as hereby constituted, on and after January 
first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, for 
the supply of water. The funds known as the 
“sinking fund number two of The City of New 
York,” the "water sinking fund of the city 
of Brooklyn,” and the sinking funds of each 
and every municipal and public corporation 
or part thereof hereby made part of the cor- 
poration of The City of New York, including 
the counties of Kings and Richmond, created 
pursuant to the requirements of the constitu- 
tional amendment adopted November fourth, 
eighteen hundred and eighty-four, or of sec- 
tion ten of article eight of the constitution of 
the state of New York, shall be continued, 
and the funds, moneys, revenues and assets 
heretofore pledged and appropriated to each 
of said funds shall, except as herein otherwise 
specifically provided, continue to be severally 
and respectively so pledged and appropriated. 
It shall, however, be the duty of the comp- 
troller of The City of New York, as soon as 
practicable after the passage of this act, to 
cause an examination to be made as to the 
condition of said funds, and if it appears to 
him, and he shall so certify to the commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund, that said funds 
or any of them have been managed, invested 
and administered in the manner required by 
the provisions of the consti'tutlon of the state 
of New York as aforesaid, it shall be lawful 
for the said commissioners of the sinking 
fund, by concurrent vote, to authorize and 
direct the amalgamation of said fund or funds 
with the water sinking fund of The City of 
New York, as hereby constituted. 

Sinking: funds for tlie payment of in- 
terest. 

Sec. 209. The fund known as the “sinking 
fund of The City of New York for the 
payment or the interest accruing and to ac- 
crue upon the stocks of said city until the 
same be fully and finally redeemed,” shall 
be continued, and after providing for 
the interest on the bonds and stocks now 
payable therefrom as provided by law, shall 
form a fund which shall be transferred to the 
“sinking fund of The City of New York for 
the redemption of the city debt”; provided, 
however, that nothing herein contained shall 
authorize the payment from said fund of any 
Interest which may accrue on bonds to be 
issued by the corporation of The City of New 
York, as hereby constituted, after January 
first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. Like 
funds in any of the municipal or public cor- 
porations or parts thereof which by this act 
are made part of the corporation of The City 
of New York, as hereby constituted, includ- 
ing the counties of Kings and Richmond, 
shall likewise be continued, and any surplus 
that may remain therein after fully satisfy- 
ing all claims, liens or charges that may ex- 
ist against such funds pursuant to law or 
ordinance shall, unless otherwise provided by 
law, be transferred to the "sinking fund of 
The City of New York,” as herein consti- 
tuted. 

Disposition of certain moneys received 

for local improvements. 

Sec. 210. All moneys now in the treasury 
of the corporation known as the mayor, aider- 
men and commonalty of the city of New York 
heretofore collected and received in payment 
or on account of assessments made and con- 
firmed for local improvements in said city, 
and all moneys which shall hereafter be col- 
lected and received in payment or on account 
of assessments made and confirmed, or which 
may be made and confirmed, for local im- 
provement* in said city completed prior to 


June third, eighteen hundred and seventy- 
eight, shall be paid into the sinking fund for 
the redemption of the city debt, and the 
same is hereby, in addition to the revenues 
and moneys aforesaid, pledged and appropri- 
ated to said sinking fund for the payment 
of the bonds and stocks of said city, to be 
paid and redeemed therefrom as herein pro- 
vided. 

Panda and revennen pledged to re- 
demption of city debt. 

Sec. 211. Between the city and its creditors, 
holders of its bonds and stocks as aforesaid, 
including the bonds and stocks of the mu- 
nicipal or public corporations or parts there- 
of consolidated with the corporation known 
as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of 
the city of New York, as well a3 those of the 
latter corporation and of the counties of 
Kings and Richmond, there shall be and 
there is hereby declared to be a contract 
that the funds and revenues of the city, in- 
cluding all the corporations last stated and 
said counties of Kings and Richmond, and 
the funds to be collected from assessments 
pursuant to any law by this chapter pledged 
to the sinking fund for the redemption of 
the city debt, shall be accumulated and ap- 
plied only to the purposes of the said sev- 
eral sinking funds as prescribed by law, until 
all of said debt redeemable therefrom is fully 
redeemed and paid as herein provided. 

Sinking- fund for the redemption of 
the city debt not to be alienated or 
Impaired. 

Sec. 212. Nothing in this chapter con- 
tained shall be held to require or authorize 
the commissioners of the sinking fund to 
use or apply any part or portion of the ac- 
cumulations in said sinking fund for the 
redemption of the city debt or the revenues 
of said fund in any manner whatever, where- 
by the security of said fund for the payment 
of the bonds and stocks of the corporation 
known as the mayor, aldermen and com- 
monalty of The City of New York, for which 
said fund is now pledged by law, and which 
are a charge on said fund, shall be alien- 
ated or impaired, and the said bonds and 
stocks so secured by law are hereby declared 
to constitute a preferred charge on said sink- 
ing fund until the same are fully and finally 
paid and redeemed. 

Commissioner* may call in bonded 
debt) consolidated stock of The City 
of New York) lien of, on sinking fund 
for the redemption of the city debt. 

Sec. 213. The commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund are hereby authorized and empow- 
ered to call in, pay, and redeem any por- 
tion of the bonded debt constituting a charge 
upon the treasury of The City of New York, 
as constituted by this act, other than rev- 
enue bonds, issued in anticipation of the 
collection of taxes, when they may deem it 
to be advantageous for the interest of the 
city so to do, and for this purpose the said 
commissioners of the sinking fund, are here- 
by empowered by a concurrent vote, and 
subject to the approval of the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment, to authorize and 
direct the comptroller to issue and sell or 
exchange therefor at not less than par, cor- 
porate stock of said city, in the manner 
herein provided; and upon the payment and 
redemption of any portion of said bonded 
debt, the certificates thereof shall be canceled 
by said commissioners of the sinking fund. 
The “consolidated stock” of the mayor, al- 
dermen and commonalty of The City of New 
York, issued pursuant to the provisions of 
section one hundred and seventy-six of chap- 
ter four hundred and ten, of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and eighty-two, after fully 


providing for the preferred bonds and stocks 
of said city, as in the preceding section speci- 
fied, shall form a charge upon the said “sink- 
ing fund for the redemption of the city 
debt,” and any part of the bonded debt of 
said corporation falling due and not ex- 
changed for or redeemed from the proceeds 
of said consolidated stock as in said sec- 
tion provided, may be paid from said sink- 
ing fund for the redemption of the said city- 
debt, provided such payment shall not in 
any way impair the preferred claims there- 
on as in the preceding section specified, and 
provided also, the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund shall deem it to be for the best 
interests of the city that such payment shall 
be so made. 

Preferred bonds and stocks to be paid 

from the sinking fund for the re- 
demption of the city debt. 

Sec. 214. From the said sinking fund for 
the redemption of the city debt shall be 
paid and redeemed all preferred bonds and 
stocks of the mayor, aldermen and com- 
monalty of The City of New York, as by this 
title authorized. 

Disposition of certain assessments for 

local improvements. 

Sec. 215. The assessments made for 
local improvements prior to the ninth day 
of June, eighteen hundred and eighty, 
by the corporation known as the mayor, al- 
dermen and commonalty of the City of New 
York, including assessments for improve- 
ments contracted for or authorized by said 
corporation, prior to said date, shall, when 
collected, be paid over to the commissioners 
of the sinking fund, and applied by them in 
accordance with law. 

Alteration of rates prohibited; the 

general fund. 

Sec. 216. It shall not be lawful for the City 
of New York to make or cause to be made, 
any alteration of rates or charges affecting 
any item or source of the revenues of any 
of the sinking funds of said city, or of the 
general fund which may tend to a diminution 
of the receipts from such source of revenue, 
or either of them, except that it shall be law- 
ful forTheCity of NewYork to exempt places 
of public worship from the payment of any 
fee for the construction of vaults under the 
sidewalk or in front thereof, and all the 
revenues of said corporation not by law 
otherwise specifically appropriated, shall, 
when received into the city treasury, be 
credited to the general fund; except such 
proceeds of policies of insurance as shall be 
authorized by the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment to be applied to repair, replace 
or reconstruct any public property injured or 
destroyed and covered by such insurance. 
Applications for leases for public pur- 
poses; statement by comptroller. 

Sec. 217. All applications to lease any real 
estate for the purposes of The City of New 
York, or any of the counties contained with- 
in its territorial limits, including the prem- 
ises required in accordance with law, for ar- 
mories and drill rooms and places of deposit 
for the safe keeping of arms, uniforms, 
equipments, accoutrements and camp equip- 
age of the national guard, must be presented 
to and passed upon by the commissioners of 
the sinking fund of said city. It shall be the 
duty of the comptroller, after due inquiry to 
be made by him, to present to the said com- 
missioners a statement, in writing, of the 
facts relating to any real estate proposed to 
be leased, the purposes for which such lease 
is required by the city, with his opinion, 
and the reasons therefor, as to the fair kind 


26 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


reasonable rent of said premises. The said 
commissioners upon such report, and upon 
such further inquiry as they, in their dis- 
cretion, may make, may authorize a lease of 
such p'remlses as shall be specified in their 
resolution, at the rent therein set forth, for a 
period not exceeding five years, except that 
a lease for an entire building intended to 
provide accommodations for more than one 
department of the city, may be made for a 
period not to exceed twenty-one years; but 
such lease shall not be authorized except at 
a fair and reasonable rent, and unless the 
commissioners are satisfied, and shall so ex- 
press, that it would be for the interests of 
the city that a lease of the premises for the 
purposes specified should be made. Without 
the consent, of the said commissioners, the 
premises leased shall not be used during the 
period of the lease for purposes other than 
specified in said resolution. If the city shall, 
prior to the making of the lease, have en- 
tered upon the possession of the property, 
the lease may be made to commence as of 
the date when the occupation commenced. 

Cession of certain lands to federal gov- 
ernment to improve Harlem river. 

Sec. 218. The commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund, or the board of aldermen, are au- 
thorized to cede, grant and convey to the 
United States, upon such terms, and for such 
consideration as may be agreed upon by and 
between said commissioners of the sinking 
fund, or said board of aldermen and the 
United States, all the estate, right, title and 
interest of the City of New York in and to 
any part of the land required for the chan- 
nel to connect the waters of the Harlem river 
with the Hudson river, in accordance with 
the plans for the improvement of the Harlem 
river, prepared under the direction of the 
secretary of war. Whenever any part of said 
land shall have been ceded by said commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund, or said board of 
aldermen, pursuant to the authority hereby 
given, it shall be the duty of said commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund, or a majority 
of them, to give a certificate under their 
hands, that the same has been ceded, pursu- 
ant to the provisions of this section; and 
upon the production of such certificate and 
upon proof of due compliance, on the part 
of the United States, with the terms of ces- 
sion, it shall be the duty of the mayor and 
the city clerk, in the name and on behalf of 
the City of New York, to execute a proper 
conveyance of such lands under their hands 
and the seal of said city. 

Certain duties of commissioners rela- 
tive to docks, piers, etc. 

Sec. 219. The commissioners of the sinking 
fund shall perform the duties and possess the 
powers with reference to docks, piers and 
slips, stated in chapter sixteen of this act. 

Sale of public lands at auction. 

Sec. 220. The commissioners of the sinking 
fund are authorized, upon the application of 
the board of education duly authorized and 
certified, to sell at public auction at such 
times and on such terms as they may deem 
most advantageous for the public interest, 
any land or lands and the buildings thereon, 
owned by the City of New York, occupied or 
reserved for school purposes, and no longer 
tequired therefor, provided, however, that no 
property shall be disposed of for a less sum 
than the same may be appraised by the com- 
missioners of the sinking fund, or a majority 
of them, at a meeting to be held and on an 
appraisement made within two months prior 
to the date of the sale; and at least thirty 
davs' notice of such sale. Including a descrip- 


tion of the property to be sold, shall be pub- 
lished in the City Record. The money re- 
ceived in payment for the said lands and 
buildings shall be paid into the sinking fund 
for the redemption of the city debt, if the 
property thus sold was acquired prior to 
January first, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
eight, and if acquired subsequent thereto, 
into the sinking fund of The City of New 
York. 

Sales of city’s interest in tax sale cer- 
tificates acquired by the former city 
of Brooklyn, etc. 

Sec. 221. The commissioners of the sinking 
fund are authorized, upon the written appli- 
cation of the Comptroller of The City of New 
York, to sell at public auction at such times 
and on such terms as they may deem most 
advantageous for the public interest, but 
after due appraisement, all the city’s right, 
title and interest in certain tax sale certifi- 
cates of lands and premises purchased by the 
former city of Brooklyn at sales for arrears 
of taxes held under and pursuant to an act 
entitled “An act concerning the settlement 
and collection of arrearages of unpaid taxes, 
assessments and water rates of the city of 
Brooklyn, and imposing and levying a tax, 
assessment and lien in lieu and instead of 
such arrearages and to enforce the payment 
thereof,” passed March sixteenth, eighteen 
hundred and eighty- three, and the several 
acts amendatory thereof. Notice of such sale 
shall be published in the City Record for at 
least thirty days prior to the date of sale, 
and said notice shall designate the number 
of the certificate, the ward in which said 
lands are situated, the block and lot num- 
ber by which the same are designated or 
known on the assessment map of such ward. 
Upon the payment of the amount bid at such 
sale the commissioners of the sinking fund 
shall authorize the comptroller to execute an 
assignment of said certificate, but no assign- 
ment of any certificate given under the pro- 
visions of this section shall become operative 
or have any effect until the same shall have 
been presented by the purchaser or his rep- 
resentative to the deputy collector of assess- 
ments and arrears in the borough of Brook- 
lyn, and a memorandum thereof entered on 
the record of sales, and a minute of such 
entry indorsed on such assignment, and every 
such assignment shall have priority according 
to the date such entry and minute are made 
and indorsed. The proceeds of said sale 
shall, on receipt thereof, after paying neces- 
sary charges, be immediately paid into the 
city treasury to the credit of the general 
fund. 

General fund bonds (new section 
added 1903). 

Sec. 222. In addition to the bonds and 
stocks now authorized by law the city of New 
York is hereby authorized to issue bonds to 
be called general fund bonds which may be 
issued in ihe manner prescribed in this sec- 
tion and shall be subject to the provisions 
thereof. General fund bonds shall be obliga- 
tions to the City of New York like other 
stocks and bonds of said city and subject 
to all provisions of law applicable to cor- 
porate stock of The City of New York which 
are not inconsistent with this section. The 
faith, and credit of The City of New York 
is hereby pledged for the fulfillment of all 
the obligations created by general fund bonds. 

The board of commissioners of the sinking 
fund in the year one thousand nine hundred 
and three and in each year thereafter until 
all of the bonds and stock which are re- 
deemable from the fund known as “the sink- 
ing fund of The City of New York for the 
redemption of the city debt” shall have ma- 
tured. shall set apart out of the revenues rnd 


income of said sinking fund, except the in- 
come and accumulation thereof derived from 
assets held by said sinking fund on January 
first, nineteen hundred and three, and except 
also the income and accumulation thereof de- 
rived from the amount to be thus annually 
set apart, a sum which with the accumulation 
of interest thereon, together with the said 
assets of said sinking fund and the earnings 
and accumulations thereof, shall be sufficient 
to redeem at maturity all the bonds and 
stock of The City of New York which are 
redeemable from said sinking fund. 

At least five weeks before the annual meet- 
ing of the board of aldermen in each and 
every year for the purpose of receiving the 
assessment-rolls required to be delivered by 
the board of taxes and assessments to the 
board of aldermen, the board of commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund may, in its discre- 
tion, certify to the board of aldermen the 
amount as estimated by said board of com- 
missioners of revenues or income, from all 
sources, of “the sinking fund of The City of 
New York for the redemption of the city 
debt” during the then calendar year and also 
the amount required by this section to be set 
apart for such calendar year out of such 
revenues and income for the redemption of 
bonds and stock. 

If in any year the said estimated amount 
of revenues or income of said sinking fund, 
excepting the income and accumulation there- 
of derived from the assets held by said sink- 
ing fund on January first, nineteen hundred 
and three, and from the amounts annually 
set apart for the redemption of bonds and 
stock as by this section required, shall exceed 
the amount required to be set apart in such 
year as in this section provided, the board 
of commissioners of the sinking fund may 
in its discretion, at the time of making said 
certificates to the board of aldermen, deter- 
mine to invest the whole or any part of the 
amount of such excess in general fund bonds 
of The City of New York for the account 
of “the sinking fund of The City of New 
York for the redemption of the city debt,” 
but such investments shall not be made in 
any year until the amount required by this 
section to be set apart for such year, as 
provided herein, shall have been so set apart. 

The board of commissioners of the sinking 
fund shall then notify the board of aldermen 
and the comptroller of the amount it has 
determined to invest in general fund bonds 
during the current year, and the comptroller 
shall include said amount in the certificate 
of estimated revenues of the general fund 
required to be by him made to the board of 
aldermen pursuant to section nine hundred 
of this act. 

The comptroller of The City of New York, 
upon the request of the board of commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund and upon receipt 
of the money thus to be invested, and without 
the concurrence or approval of any other 
board or public body, and without any action 
or other proceedings whatever other than 
those provided in this section, shall issue 
and deliver' to said board, duly signed and 
sealed and in such form as shall be approved 
by the said board, general fund bonds to the 
corresponding amount. The comptroller shall 
forthwith pay into the city treasury the 
money thus received which shall be deemed 
to be a part of the general fund and be used 
for the redemption of taxation. 

General fund bonds shall be issued only to 
the board of commissioners of the sinking 
fund for the account of the sa^fd fund known 
as ’“the sinking fund of The City of New 
Yrr’c for the r?*-r.ptha o' Or city dclvt-" 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


27 


They shall be the valid and binding obliga- 
tions of The City of New York, and shall 
bear such rate of Interest, payable from taxa- 
tion or the general fund, not exceeding four 
!>er centum per annum and not less than 
the rate on sinking fund investments made 
at the time in other corporate stock of said 
city, as shall be determined by the said board, 
and said bonds shall be due and payable at 
such time as shall be determined by said 
board, but not earlier than the year nineteen 
hundred and twenty-nine and said bonds shall 
in all respects, except as in this section other- 
wise expressly provided, be like other cor- 
porate stock and bonds of the said City of 
New York and the rights, powers, duties and 
obligations of the board of commissioners of 
the sinking fund in respect of said general 
fund bonds shall be the same in all respects, 
except as in this section otherwise expressly 
provided, as with respect of all other cor- 
porate stock of said city in said sinking 
fund. 

When all the bonds and stock redeemable 
from “the sinking fund of The City of New 
York for the redemption of the city debt” 
shall have been paid, all general fund bonds 
then in said sinking fund shall be cancelled. 

If in any year it shall appear to the board 
of commissioners of the sinking fund that 
the revenues and income of "the sinking fund 
of The City of New York for the redemption 
of the city debt” applicable thereto will not 
be sufficient to provide the sum required by 
this section to be set apart in such year, it 
shall be the duty of the board of commission- 
ers of the sinking fund to certify to the board 
of estimate and apportionment before said 
board meets for the purpose of making up 
the annual budget for the next ensuing year, 
a sum sufficient, when added to the amount 
of estimated revenues and income for that 
year, as certified by the said board of com- 
missioners of the sinking fund, to make up 
the deficiency. The sum thus certified shall 
be included by the board of estimate and 
apportionment and the board of aldermen in 
the annual budget for the next ensuing year 
and be raised by taxation and paid into the 
said sinking fund during such year. 

If at any time it shall be necessary in 
order to provide for the redemption of the 
bonds and stock which are redeemable from 
“the sinking fund of The City of New York 
for the redemption of the city debt” the said 
board of commissioners of the sinking fund 
shall have the power, in addition to all other 
powers conferred by law upon said board, to 
purchase for the account of any of the sink- 
ing funds under its control, or to sell at 
public sale to the highest bidders therefor, 
such an amount of the general fund bonds 
held by it for the account of “the sinking 
fund of The City of New York for the re- 
demption of the city debt” as may be neces- 
sary for that purpose. Such general fund 
bonds when thus purchased for other sink- 
ing funds or sold at public sale shall be a 
charge upon "the sinking fund of The City 
of New York,” and there shall be raised 
annually by taxation and paid into the said 
sinking fund a sum which, with the accu- 
mulation of Interest thereon, shall be suffi- 
cient to redeem said bonds at maturity; but 
so long as the said general fund bonds are 
held in the said fund, known as "the sinking 
fund of The City of New York for the re- 
demption of the city debt,” no such annual 
sum shall be raised for the redemption of the 
principal of the said general fund bonds at 
maturity.— Added by Laws of 1903. Chap- 
< 


TITLE 5. 

APPROPRIATIONS AND THE BOARD OF 

ESTIMATE AND APPORTIONMENT. 

Hon constituted ; duties; the annual 

budget. 

Sec. 226. The mayor, comptroller, president 
of the board of aldermen, and the presidents 
of the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, The 
Bronx, Queens and Richmond shall constitute 
the board of estimate and apportionment. 
Except as otherwise specifically provided, 
every act of the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment shall be by resolution adopted 
by a majority of the whole number of 
votes authorized by this section to be 
cast by said board. The mayor, comp- 
troller and the president of the board 
of aldermen shall each be entitled to 
cast three votes; the presidents of the 
boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn shall 
each be entitled to cast two votes; and the 
presidents of the boroughs of The Bronx, 
Queens and Richmond shall each be entitled 
to cast one vote. A quorum of said board 
shall consist of a sufficient number of the 
members thereof to cast nine votes, of whom 
at least two of the members hereby author- 
ized to cast three votes each shall be pres- 
ent. No resolution or amendment of any 
resolution shall be passed at the same meet- 
ing at which it is originally presented unless 
twelve votes shall be cast for Its adoption. 
The first meeting of said board in every year 
shall be called by notice from the mayor, 
personally served upon the members of said 
board. Subsequent meetings shall be called 
as the said board shall direct, and at such 
meetings the mayor shall preside. The 
said board shall annually, between the first 
day of October and the first day of Novem- 
ber meet, and make a budget of the amounts 
estimated to be required to pay the expenses 
of conducting the public business of The City 
of New York, as constituted by this act and 
of the counties of New York, Kings, Queens 
and Richmond for the then next ensuing year. 
Such budget shall be prepared In such detail 
as to the titles of appropriations, the terms 
and conditions, not inconsistent with law, 
under which the same may be expended, the 
aggregate sum and the items thereof allowed 
to each department, bureau, office, board or 
commission, as the said board of estimate and 
apportionment shall deem advisable. In order 
to enable said board to make such budget, 
the presidents of the several boroughs, the 
heads of departments, bureaus, offices, boards 
and commissions shall, not later than Sep- 
tember tenth, send to the board of estimate 
and apportionment an estimate in writing, 
herein called a departmental estimate, of the 
amount of expenditure, specifying in detail 
the objects thereof, required in their re- 
spective departments, bureaus, offices, boards, 
and commissions, including a statement of 
each of the salaries of their officers, clerks, 
employes and subordinates. Duplicates of 
these departmental estimates and statements 
shall be sent at the same time to the board 
of aldermen. Before finally determining upon 
the budget the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment shall fix such sufficient time or 
times as may be necessary to allow the tax- 
payers of said city to be heard in regard 
thereto, and the said board shall attend at 
the time or times so appointed for such hear- 
ing. After such budget is made by the board 
of estimate and apportionment, it shall be 
submitted by said board within five days to 
the board of aldermen, whereupon a special 
meeting of the board of aldermen shall be 
called by the mayor to consider such budget, 
.c. .hr s»-.:r.c shall 6!:r«Hr.n?.v.:sl7 he pub- 


lished in tbe City Record. The consideration 
of such budget by the board of aldermen 
shall continue from day to day until final 
action is taken thereon, but such considera- 
tion shall not continue beyond twenty days, 
and in the event of said board of aldermen 
taking no action thereon within such period 
of time, the said budget shall be deemed to 
be finally adopted as submitted by thp board 
of estimate and apportionment. The board 
of aldermen may reduce the said several 
amounts fixed by the board of estimate and 
apportionment, except such amounts as are 
now or may hereafter be fixed by law, 
and except such amounts as may be 
inserted by the said board of estimate and 
apportionment for the payment of state taxes 
and payment of interest and principal of the 
city debt, but the board of aldermen may 
not increase such amounts nor vary the 
terms ana conditions thereof, nor insert any 
new items. Such action of the board of 
aldermen on reducing any item or amount 
fixed by the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment shall be subject to the veto power 
of the mayor as elsewhere provided in this 
act, and unless such veto is overridden by a 
three-fourths vote of the board of aldermen, 
the item or amount as fixed by the board of 
estimate and apportionment shall stand as 
part of the budget. Prior to December 
twenty-fifth in each year the budget, as 
finally adopted pursuant to the provisions of 
this section, shall be certified by the mayor, 
comptroller and city clerk, whereupon the 
said several sums shall be and become ap- 
propriated to the several purposes therein 
named. On or before December thirty-first 
in each year the said budget shall be filed 
in the office of the comptroller and published 
in the City Record. 

Payment of city’s obligations to be 

provided for. 

Sec. 227. It shall be the duty of the board 
of estimate and apportionment, from time to 
time, to piovide for the payment of the in- 
terest and principal of the bonds and other 
obligations of the city, or for which the city 
is liable, and also to provide for the payment 
to the commissioners of the sinking fund of 
any sums directed by special laws to be 
paid to said commissioners on account of 
such bonds or obligations and in anticipa- 
tion of their maturity, and to provide for the 
raising of the money therefor, in accordance 
wdth such special laws and the laws under 
which such bonds and obligations were 
issued or created. 

Dnttes when accumulations In sinking 

fond are lnsntltcient. 

Sec. 228. Whenever and as often as the 
commissioners of the sinking fund shall cer- 
tify to the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment that the accumulations in any sinking 
fund will not be sufficient to meet the pay- 
ment of any bonds or stocks falling due in 
the next following calendar year redeemable 
therefrom, it shall be the duty of the said 
board of estimate and apportionment, and it 
is hereby required to include in the annual 
budget for such year, to be raised by tax on 
the estates, real and personal, in the city, 
subject to taxation, such an amount to be 
applied to the payment of said bonds or 
stocks as shall be certified by said commis- 
sioners, and the amount so Included In said 
estimate shall be paid into said sinking fund 
and applied as In this section specified. 

Certain city bonds and stocks; annual 

provisions to meet payment of. 

Sec. 229. For the payment of all bonds and 
stocks of the mayor, aldermen and common- 

•'tv af - i |‘r Yr.:\- >---rd after Juno 


28 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


third, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, 
and for the payment of all the bonds and 
stocks hereafter issued by The City of New 
York, as hereby constituted and for which no 
provision for the payment thereof, otherwise 
than from taxation is made, except revenue 
bonds issued in anticipation of the collection 
of taxes there shall annually be set apart or 
paid over to the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund, as hereinafter directed, and invest- 
ed by them in the manner provided by law, a 
sum sufficient, with the accumulation of in- 
terest thereon to meet and discharge the 
amount of said bonds or stocks by the time 
the same shall be payable, as the same shall 
he estimated and certified by the comptroller. 
The said annual sum so to be set apart or 
paid over and invested, except so far as it 
relates to bonds and stocks issued on or af- 
ter January first, eighteen hundred and nine- 
ty-eight, and bonds issued to provide for the 
supply of water, shall, until other provisions 
therefor may be hereafter made by law, be 
set apart out of the surplus income, revenues 
BDd accumulations of the sinking fund for the 
redemption of the city debt as now establish- 
ed by law, after fully providing for the pay- 
ment of the stocks and bonds of said city 
now outstanding, and which, by sections two 
hundred and twelve and two hundred and 
thirteen of this act, are declared to be and 
are made preferred claims upon said sinking 
fund, and also for the payment of such other 
bonds and stocks of said city as by said sec- 
tion two hundred and thirteen of this act are 
authorized to be paid from said sinking 
fund. Whenever, and as often as the com- 
missioners of the sinking fund shall certify 
to the board of estimate and apportionment 
that the said surplus revenues of said sink- 
ing fund will, in the opinion of said commis- 
sioners, be less than the amount by this sec- 
tion required to be set apart or paid over to 
said commissioners for the purposes afore- 
said, and certifying the amount of euch de- 
ficiency, It shall bo the duty of said board 
of estimate and apportionment, and the board 
of aldermen to include in the annual budget 
for the year next ensuing to be raised by tax 
on the estates, real and personal, in said city 
subject to taxation, the amount of the de- 
ficiency certified as aforesaid, and this 
amount so raised by tax shall be paid to the 
commissioners of tho sicking fund on the 
first day of November of th6 year in which 
the same shall be levied. 

Items to be Included In annual esti- 
mate. 

Sec. 230. The board of estimate and ap- 
portionment shall, in addition to such other 
amounts as it may in Its discretion provide , 
for public purposes in The City of New York 
and the several counties wholly contained 
within it3 territorial limits, annually in- 
clude in its final estimate the following 
sums, which shall annually be raised and 
appropriated: 

First — A sum not exceeding eight thou- 
sand dollars to be paid to the trustees of 
the Seventh regiment armory building, as 
an equivalent and in lieu of the rental of 
an armory for said regiment, to be applied 
to the preservation, maintenance and Im- 
provement of said armory building, as pro- 
vided In chapter five hundred and eighteen 
of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
three, said sum to be paid in the month of 
January In each year. 

Second— The amount necessary for the 
maintenance of the buildings, instruments 
and equipments of: 

1. The meteorological and astronomical 

observatory. 

2. The American Museum of Natural 


History, not exceeding one hundred and 
thirty-five thousand dollars. 

3. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, not 
exceeding ninety-five thousand dollars. 

4. The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 
Sciences, not exceeding ninety-five thou- 
sand dollars. 

Third — Such sum, not exceeding seventy- 
five thousand dollars, as is included in the 
departmental estimates submitted to it by 
the department of public charities, to be 
applied to the relief of poor adult blind per- 
sons. 

Fourth — Such sum as is necessary to pay 
the expenses of the registration and revision 
of registration required by , law, and of all 
elections held in said city during the year. 

Fifth — Such sum as may be necessary to 
pay the compensation due according to law 
to justices of the supreme court from judicial 
departments, other than the first and sec- 
ond judicial districts, who hold court in 
the first judicial department, or who hold 
court within the second judicial department 
within the said city of New York as hereby 
constituted. 

Sixth — Such sum as may be necessary to 
pay tho salaries of county officers within 
the counties of New York, Kings, Queens 
and Richmond, and likewise all other ex- 
penses within said counties and each of 
them which are county as distinguished 
from city charges and expenses. 

Seventh — Such sum as Is necessary for de- 
fraying the expenses incurred in carrying 
out the provisions of sections ten hundred 
and ninety-three, ten hundred and ninety- 
four and ten hundred and ninety-five of chap- 
ter four hundred and ten of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and eighty-two. 

Eighth— Such sum as may he necessary to 
provide for the compilation and publication 
of the registry of voters, and such sum as 
may be necessary to provide for the com- 
pilation and publication of the annual record 
of the assessed valuation of real estate. 

Ninth— The sums necessary, in the discre- 
tion of said board, to make the following 
aescriDea payments, namely: 

1. To the American Female Guardian so- 
ciety for the maintenance of each girl un- 
der the age of fourteen and each boy under 
the age of ten years, committed to such so- 
ciety by any magistrate in The City of New 
York, the sum of two dollars per week for 
each and every week until such child is 
discharged or removed from the institution 
of such society. And also the sum of twenty- 
five thousand dollars, to be applied to the 
support of the industrial schools and other 
charitable work of the said society. 

2. To the New York Society for the Pre- 
vention of Cruelty to Children the sum of 
thirty thousand dollars for the uses and 
purposes of said society. 

3. To the New York Society for the Re- 
lief of the Ruptured and Crippled, the sum 
of one hundred and fifty dollars for the sup- 
port of every crippled child received and re- 
tained in their hospital for one year, and a 
proportionate sum for a shorter period. 

4. To the New York Infirmary for Women 
and Children, twenty-five dollars for each 
homeless or needy mother who received care 
and attendance in lying-in wards of the 
New York Infirmary for Women and Chil- 
dren, for such care and obstetric attendance, 
and the further sum of eighteen dollars per 
month, and proportionately for any fraction 
of a month, for each mother thus domiciled 
and attended at the birth of her child, and 
for each homeless and needy mother with 
a nursing infant who resides at said in- 
firmary at the request of or by permis- 
sion of its officers, and wet nurses her *»wn 


infant, provided such residence shall ex- 
ceed the period of two months, but the said 
monthly allowance of eighteen dollars shall 
not be paid for a longer period than one 
year for any mother so remaining continu- 
ously. And to the New York Medical Col- 
lege and Hospital for Women, twenty-five 
dollars for each needy mother who has re- 
ceived care and obstetric attendance at her 
home or in the lying-in wards of the said 
hospital, for such care and obstetric attend- 
ance, and the further sum o{ eighteen dol- 
lars per month and proportionately for each 
fraction of a month for each mother at- 
tended at the birth of her child and domi- 
ciled at such hospital, but not for a longer 
period than one year, and also for each 
homeless or needy mother with a nursing in- 
fant who resides at said hospital at the re- 
quest of or by permission of its officers 
and wet nurses her own infant, provided such 
residence shall exceed the period of two 
months. But such sums to the New York 
Medical College and Hospital for Women 
shall not exceed eight thousand dollars in 
the aggregate in any one year. 

5. To the Children’s Fold of the city of 
New York, the sum of two dollars per week 
for each and every orphan, half orphan and 
destitute child received and supported by 
said institution, the expense of whose sup- 
port is not paid by private parties. 

6. To the New York Institution for the 
Blind, fifty dollars for each state pupil sent 
to and received in said institution from said 
city, whose parents or guardians shall, in 
the opinion of the superintendent of public 
Instruction, be unable to furnish them with 
suitable clothing, to be by it applied to fur- 
nishing such pupils with suitable clothing 
while in said institution. 

7. To the Children’s Aid Society, the sum 
of ten thousand dollars for the uses and 
purposes of said society. And also the sum 
of thirty thousand dollars to be applied to 
the care and education in the industrial 
schools of said city, of destitute children not 
attending the common schools in The City 
of New York. And also the sum of thirty 
thousand dollars to be applied to the sup- 
port of the boys’ and girls’ lodging houses 
of the said society. To St. John’s Guild, of 
the city of New York, the sum of thirty 
thousand dollars, to be applied to the main- 
tenance and operation of Its hospitals, to 
the support of its other charitable work and 
to the general uses and purposes of said 
society, and to the Sanitarium for Hebrew 
Children in the city of New York, the sum 
of five thousand dollars to be applied to the 
support of Its charitable work. 

8. To the Foundling Asylum of the Sisters 
of Charity and to the Babies’ Hospital of 
the city of New York, respectively, at the 
rate of thirty-eight cents per day for each 
and every foundling or infant received and 
maintained by them. And also for each and 
every homeless and needy mother with a 
nursing infant, who shall reside at the 
asylum, or at said hospital, by request of 
its officers, and nurses her own infant, the 
sum of eighteen dollars per month. To the 
babies’ wards of the Post-Graduate Hos- 
pital in the city of New York, at the rate 
of thirty-eight cents per day for each and 
every infant received and cared for therein. 

9. To the Nursery and Child’s Hospital, the 
sum of five dollars per week for every des- 
titute woman admitted into its lying-in 
wards, according to the time of the said 
woman’s continuing under the care of the 
said institution, and the further sum of ten 
dollars per month for each and every child 
born in the institution or supported and 
maintained by said institution, whenever it 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


may be necessary or expedient to place said 
child in the country, or for want of room 
in the institution to find accommodation for 
it elsewhere; and also the sum of ten dol- 
lars per month for all children received and 
retained in the Nursery and Child’s Hos- 
pital, in the city of New York, and in like 
proportion for any fraction of a year for 
each and every destitute child which may be 
supported and maintained in said institution. 
To the New York Polyclinic Medical School 
and Hospital, for board, nursing and medi- 
cal or surgical aid and attendance, one dol- 
lar per day for each needy and charity pa- 
tient who occupies a bed in said hospital 
and who receives such care, support and 
maintenance; such payments not to ex- 
ceed in the aggregate thirty thousand 
dollars per annum. To the New York 
Homeopathic . College and Hospital, for 
board, nursing and medical or sur- 
gical aid and attendance, one dollar per 
day for each needy and charity patient who 
occupies a bed in the Flower Surgical Hospi- 
tal, belonging to said New York Homeopathic 
College and Hospital, and who receives such 
care, support and maintenance; such pay- 
ment not to exceed in the aggregate twelve 
thousand dollars per annum. 

10. To the New York Infant Asylum, a sum 
of money at the rate of thirty-eight cents 
per day, in monthly payments, for each and 
every child received and maintained by said 
asylum; a further sum of twenty-five dollars 
for each homeless or needy mother who re- 
ceives care and attendance in the 1> ing-in 
wards of the asylum; the further sum of 
eighteen dollars per month, and proportion- 
ately for any fraction of a month, for each 
homeless or needy mother who is domiciled 
in the asylum and attended at the birth of her 
child, and resides at the asylum by the re- 
quest of its officers, and wet nurses her own 
infant; and for each other homeless or needy 
mother with a nursing Infant who resides 
at the asylum by the request of its officers 
and wet nurses her own infant; provided, 
however, that in each case such residence 
must exceed the period of two months, and 
that said monthly allowance shall not be 
paid for a longer period than for one year 
for any mother so remaining. 

11. To the Shepherd’s Fold of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church in the state of New 
York, the sum of five thousand dollars, to be 
applied to the purposes and objects of said 
corporation. 

12. To the New York Catholic Protectory, 
yearly, the sum of one hundred and ten dol- 
lars per capita, on the average number of 
persons annually maintained in its institu- 
tions; the average number of persons thus 
maintained shall be ascertained by the ex- 
amination and testimony, under oath, of the 
president or secretary of said society. 

13. To the Hebrew Benevolent Society of 
the city of New York, one hundred and ten 
dollars per annum and proportionately for 
any fraction of a year, and to the Hebrew 
Sheltering Guardian Society of New York 
one hundred and four dollars per annum and 
proportionately for any fraction of a year 
for each orphan, half orphan and indigent 
child committed or entrusted to its care in 
pursuance of the provisions of law. 

14. To the New York Juvenile Asylum, one 
hundred and ten dollars per annum, and pro- 
portionately for any fraction of a year, for 
each child, which, by virtue and in pursu- 
ance of the provisions of chapter three hun- 
dred and thirty-two of the laws of eighteen 
hundred and fifty-one, as amended by laws 
of eighteen hundred and fifty-eight, chap- 
ter forty-three, laws of eighteen hundred 


and sixty-three, chapter ninety-four and laws 
of eighteen hundred and sixty-six, chapter 
two hundred and forty-five, shall be entrust- 
ed or committed to the said asylum and shall 
be supported and instructed therein. 

15. To the Roman Catholic House of the 
Good Shepherd, monthly payments at 
the rate of one hundred and ten dollars 
per annum for each female, between the 
ages of fourteen and twenty-one, committed 
to it by any magistrate in accordance with 
chapter four hundred and nine of the laws 
of eighteen hundred and sixty-seven. 

16. To the Magdalen Female Benevolent 
Asylum and Home for Fallen Women, month- 
ly payments at the rate of one hundred and 
ten dollars per annum for each female, be- 
tween the ages of fourteen and twenty-one 
years, committed to it by any magistrate, in 
accordance with said last mentioned law. 

17. To the Protestant Episcopal House of 
Mercy, monthly payments at the rate of 
one hundred and ten dollars per annum for 
each female between the ages of fourteen 
and twenty-one years, committed to it by any 
magistrate in accordance with said last men- 
tioned law. 

18. To the Five Points House of Industry, 
the sum of fifty-two dollars per year for 
each and every orphan, half orphan and 
destitute child, not exceeding two hundred 
children in any one year, received and sup- 
ported by said institution for each year, the 
expense of whose support is not paid by 
private parties, and in the same proportion 
for the part of a year. 

19. To the Association for Befriending 
Children and Young Girls, a per capita al- 
lowance of one dollar a week for each female 
by it rescued, supported. Instructed and 
trained to useful employment. 

20. To the Peabody Home for Aged and 
Indigent Women, the sum of one hundred 
and fifty dollars per annum for each and 
every woman therein over sixty-five years 
of age received and supported by said in- 
stitution, not exceeding, however, the sum 
of five thousand dollars in any one year, and 
to the Sloan Maternity Hospital in the city 
of New York, the sum of five dollars per 
week for every destitute woman admitted 
into its lying-in ward, according to the time 
of the said woman continuing under the care 
of the said institution, and the further sum 
of ten dollars per month for each and every 
child born in tbe institution or supported 
and maintained by said institution, but such 
sums shall not exceed eight thousand dollars 
in any one year. And to the New York Fe- 
male Asylum for lying-in women, twenty- 
five dollars for each homeless and needy 
mother who has received care and attention 
in the lying-in ward of the asylum, for 
such care and obstetric attendance, but such 
sums shall not exceed eight thousand dol- 
lars in any one year. 

21. To the Mothers’ and Babies’ Hospital, 
fifteen dollars for each homeless and needy 
mother who has received care and attention 
in the lying-in ward of the hospital, for such 
care and obstetric attendance, not to exceed 
three hundred patients in any one year. 

22. Such other sum or sums as are, or may 
be by law directed or authorized to be raised 
and paid for charitable purposes or to pri- 
vate or incorporated societies, associations, 
asylums, hospitals, corporations, institutions, 
protectories, home or schools. 

23. The board of estimate and apportion- 
ment are hereby authorized in their discre- 
tion to include in their annual statements 
and estimates the following specified sums 
of money for the respective purposes herein 
stated, namely: Four thousand dollars to be 


29 


paid to the Brooklyn Hospital (formerly 
City Hospital); four thousand dollars to be 
paid to the Long Island College Hospital; 
four thousand dollars to be paid to the Brook- 
lyn Homeopathic Hospital; fifteen hundred 
dollars to be paid to the Brooklyn Central 
Dispensary; fifteen hundred dollars to be 
paid to the Brooklyn City Dispensary; fifteen 
hundred dollars to be paid to the Brooklyn 
Eclectic Dispensary; fifteen hundred dol- 
lars to be paid to the Brooklyn Homeopathic 
Dispensary; five thousand dollars to be paid 
to the Brooklyn Eastern District Dispensary 
and Hospital (formerly the Willlamsburgh 
Dispensary); fifteen hundred dollars to be 
paid to the Long Island College Dispensary; 
fifteen hundred dollars to be paid to the Gates 
Avenue Homeopathic Dispensary; four thou- 
sand dollars to be paid to the Brooklyn 
Nursery and Infants’ Hospital; fifteen hun- 
dred dollars to be paid to the Brooklyn East- 
ern District Homeopathic Dispensary (for- 
merly tho Williamsburgb Homeopathic Dis- 
pensary); twenty-five hundred dollars to be 
paid to the Brooklyn Maternity (formerly 
Brooklyn Lying-in Asylum); twenty-flvo hun- 
dred dollars to be paid to the Eye and Ear 
Hospital of the city of Brooklyn; one thou- 
sand dollars to be paid to the Southern Dis- 
pensary and Hospital; fifteen hundred dol- 
lars to be paid to tbe Orthopedic Dispen- 
sary; four thousand dollars to be paid to 
tho Saint Peter’s Hospital; fifteen hundred 
dollars to be paid to the Saint Peter’s Dis- 
pensary; two thousand dollars to be paid to 
the Atlantic Avenue Dispensary; one thou- 
sand dollars to be paid to the Saint. Mary’s 
Dispensary; two thousand dollars to be paid 
to the Brooklyn Diet Dispensary; fifteen 
hundred dollars to be paid to the Saint 
Catherine’s Dispensary; four thousand dol- 
lars to be Duid to the Saint Catherine's Hos- 
pital; one thousand dollars to be paid to the 
Helping Hand Society of Brooklyn; one thou- 
sand dollars to be paid to the Sheltering 
Arms Nursery of Brooklyn; four thousand 
dollars to be paid to the Brooklyn Home for 
Consumptives; four thousand dollars to bo 
paid to the Memorial Hospital for Women 
and Children; four thousand dollars to be 
paid to the Saint Mary’s General Hospital of 
the city of Brooklyn; fifteen hundred dol- 
lars to be paid to the Central Homeopathic 
Dispensary; fifteen hundred dollars to bo 
paid to the Memorial Dispensary; fifteen 
hundred dollars to be paid to the Bushwick 
and East Brooklyn Dispensary; fifteen hun- 
dred dollars to be paid to the Dispensary 
of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of 
Saint Mary’s Hospital of the city of Brook- 
lyn; four thousand dollars to be paid to 
the Methodist Episcopal Hospital of the 
city of Brooklyn; two thousand dollars to 
be paid to the Saint Mary’s Female Hospital; 
fifteen hundred dollars to be paid to the 
Lutheran Hospital Association of the city of 
New York and vicinity; four thousand 
dollars to be paid to the Brooklyn 
Throat Hospital; two thousand dollars 
to be paid to the Bedford Dispensary and 
Hospital; four thousand dollars to bo paid 
to the St. Martha’s Sanitarium and Dispens- 
ary; three thousand dollars to be paid to the 
Central Throat Hospital and Polyclinic Dis- 
pensary; three thousand dollars to be paid to 
the Long Island Throat Hospital and Eye 
Infirmary (formerly the Long Island Throat 
and Lung Hospital and People’s Dispensary 
Association); four thousand dollars to be 
paid to the Norwegian Lutheran Deaconesses’ 
Home and Hospital; two thousand and five 
hundred dollars to be paid to the Brooklyn 
Home for Aged Colored People; three thou- 
sand dollars to be paid to the St. Mary’s Mil- 


30 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


ternity and Infant’s Home; two thousand 
dollars to be paid to the Memorial Training 
School for Nurses; four thousand dollars to 
be paid to the Church Charity Foundation of 
Long Island for its hospital; twenty-five hun- 
dred dollars to be paid to the Home of St. 
Giles the Cripple; three thousand dollars to 
be paid to the Bushwick Hospital; four 
thousand dollars to be paid to the Brooklyn 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Children; two thousand dollars to be paid to 
the Brooklyn Training School and Home for 
Young Girls; fifteen hundred dollars to be 
paid to the dispensary of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Hospital; twenty-five hundred dollars 
to be paid to the Low Maternity; fifteen hun- 
dred dollars to be paid to the Brooklyn Hos- 
pital dispensary; two thousand dollars to be 
paid to the Society for the Aid of Friendless 
Women and Children; two thousand dollars 
to be paid to the Stone Maternity of Brook- 
lyn; fifteen hundred dollars to be paid to St. 
Phebe’s mission; fifteen hundred dollars to 
be paid to the Orphan Asylum Society of 
the city of Brooklyn; two thousand five hun- 
dred dollars to be paid to the Industrial 
Home for the Blind; fifteen hundred dollars 
to be paid to the Brooklyn Industrial School 
Association and Home for Destitute Children; 
fifteen hundred dollars to be paid to the In- 
dustrial Home School Association of Brook- 
lyn, eastern district; twenty-five hundred 
dollars to be paid to the Maternity of the 
Long Island College Hospital; fifteen hundred 
dollars to be paid to the Twenty-sixth Ward 
Homeopathic Dispensary; such several sums 
of money to be paid to the several institu- 
tions in consideration of their contracting to 
render and rendering medical and surgical 
aid and treatment to the poor of the county 
of Kings who may apply to them therefor; 
such contract to be in writing, executed on 
behalf of the city by the mayor and comp- 
troller and also by the executive officers of 
said associations respectively, and to be ap- 
proved by the counsel to the corporation of 
the city, to be filed annually on or before 
the thirty-first day of May, fn the office of 
the city clerk. 

24. Any other sum or sums which may 
heretofore have been duly authorized by law 
to be paid within The City of New York, or 
any part thereof, as constituted by this act, 
for the education and support of the blind, 
the deaf and dumb and juvenile de- 
linquents, and for the care, support, 
maintenance and secular education of 
inmates of orphan asylums, protectories, 
homes for dependent children or correc- 
tional institutions, or to charitable, eleemos- 
ynary, correctional and reformatory insti- 
tutions, wholly or partly under private con- 
trol for care, support and maintenance, as 
in such law specified. The board of estimate 
and apportionment may also, in its discretion, 
appropriate and allow moneys raised by taxa- 
tion or received from any other source and 
properly applicable thereto, to any charitable, 
eleemosynary, correctional or reformatory in- 
stitution wholly or partly under private con- 
trol for the care, support and maintenance of 
its inmates; such payments to be made only 
for such inmates as are received and retained 
therein pursuant to rules established by the 
state board of charities. The board of esti- 
mate and apportionment may in any year, 
and #lom time to time, increase or diminish, 
the sum authorized to be paid to any insti- 
tution, association, corporation or society 
included in the tenth paragraph of this sec- 
tion. The final estimate shall specify each 
institution by its corporate name and the 
sum to be paid thereto, with a reference to 
the laws authorizing the appropriation, and 
thb comptroller is authorized to pay the 


sum to such institution upon its appearing to 
his satisfaction in such manner as he shall 
prescribe that the expenditure thereof by 
the institution is lawful and proper. No ap- 
propriation shall be made, under this section 
to any corporation unless the mayor of the 
city, or the president of the borough in 
which the chief office of such corporation is 
situated, be notified of all meetings of its 
board of management, and be empowered to 
attend the same or designate in writing some 
person to do so in his behalf; but this shall 
not be construed as impairing any existing 
powers of visitation vested in the supreme 
court or the state board of charities, or any 
provisions of lav/ requiring statements by 
such corporations as to their affairs.— As 
amended by Laws of 1903, Chapter 454. 
Changing paragraph Eighth. 

Board of estimate and apportionment 

to andit charges against city for 

costs, etc. 

Sec. 231. The board of estimate and ap- 
portionment is hereby authorized to audit 
and allow, as charges against the city, the 
reasonable costs, counsel fees and expenses 
paid or incurred, or which shall hereafter 
be paid or incurred by any commissioner, 
city magistrate or police justice who shall 
have been a successful party in any proceed- 
ings or trial to remove him from office, or 
who shall bring or defend any action or pro- 
ceeding, in which the question as to his title 
to office is in any way presented, or involved, 
or in which it is sought to convict him, or to 
review or prohibit any such removal or to 
obtain possession of his office, or by any 
commissioner for the proper presentation 
and justification of his official conduct before 
any body or tribunal lawfully investigating 
the same, and not officially recommending 
his removal from the office. The board of 
estimate and apportionment and the board of 
aldermen are hereby authorized and directed 
to cause to be included in the budget for the 
year following such audit, an amount suffi- 
cient to pay the revenue bonds directed to 
be issued by the said comptroller pursuant 
to section one hundred and eighty-eight of 
this act, with all interest due or to become 
due thereon. 

Deficiencies; how provided for. 

Sec. 232. The amount raised by assessment, 
pursuant to the provisions of chapter one 
hundred and ninety-one, of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and eighty, shall be col- 
lected and paid into the city treasury, and 
applied toward the payment of revenue bonds 
issued under said chapter. If any deficiency 
shall arise from any cause, and a sufficient 
amount shall not be realized from such as- 
sessment to pay fifty thousand dollars of the 
revenue bonds issued pursuant to said chap- 
ter. with the interest thereon, such deficiency 
shall be provided for by the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment and the board ' of 
aldermen, by including the same in the an- 
nual appropriation first made, after the 
amount of such deficiency, if any, shall be 
ascertained. 

Issue of certain stock and bonds au- 
thorised; transfers of appropriations. 

Sec.. 235. The board of estimate and ap- 
portionment may at any time, as occasion 
may require, authorize the issue of any stocks 
or bonds for the purpose of withdrawing, 
or taking up at maturity any stocks or bonds 
outstanding; but the said bonds or their pro- 
ceeds shall be applied exclusively to the pay- 
ment. purchase, and extinction of such ma- 
turing bonds in such manner that the ag- 
gregate Of the Stocks or bonds of said city 


outstanding shall not be increased thereby 
for a longer period than is necessary in ef- 
fecting said change. 

Appropriation for prevention of con- 
tagious diseases. 

Sec. 236. For the prevention of dangers from 
contagious or infectious diseases found to 
exist In any part of the city, or for the care 
of persons exposed to danger from contagious 
or infectious diseases, the board of aider- 
men and the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment may appropriate to the use of the 
health department money in excess of the 
annual estimate and appropriation for any 
year to the amount that shall be declared 
necessary for such purpose by resolution of 
the board of health; not, however, to exceed, 
in the aggregate, the sum of eighty thou- 
sand dollars in excess of such annual ap- 
propriation, and if any sum or sums of money 
shall be so appropriated by said board of 
aldermen and said board of estimate and 
apportionment in any year prior to the date 
of the certificate of the comptroller to the 
board of aldermen of the aggregate amount 
of the budget for such year, the amount 
thereof shall be added to such final estimate, 
and included in the tax levy in such year. 

Board of estimate may transfer excess 

of appropriations. 

Sec. 237. The board of estimate and appor- 
tionment shall have the power at any time 
to transfer any appropriation for any year 
which may be found, by the president of a 
borough, the head of a department or other 
officer having control of such appropriation, 
to be in excess of the amount required or 
deemed to be necessary for the purposes 
or objects thereof, to such other purposes or 
objects for which the appropriations In such 
year are insufficient, or such as may require 
the same. But nothing in the power thus 
conferred shall authorise the transfer by said 
board of an appropriation made for any 
object or purpose, in one year, to any pur- 
pose or object, whether an appropriation has 
teen made therefor or otherwise, in any 
subsequent year. And any balance of appro- 
priations remaining unexpended at the close 
of any fiscal year, after allowing sufficient 
to satisfy all claims payablo therefrom, and 
also any balance to the credit cf any account 
of moneys which have been or may hereafter 
be paid into the treasury of the city, under 
existing laws, appropriated or authorized to 
be expended for any specific purpose, and 
which the said board of estimate and appor- 
tionment may determine not to be necessary, 
or to be in excess of the amount required 
therefor, may, at any time, but not less 
than sixty days after the expiration of the 
year for which such appropriations are 
made, or sixty days after the expiration of 
the year during which the moneys aforesaid 
were paid into the treasury of the city, after 
allowing sufficient to satisfy all claims pay- 
able from 6uch appropriations, or which the 
comptroller shall certify should be paid from 
said moneys paid into the treasury, as afore- 
said, be transferred by the comptroller, with 
the approval of the said board of estimate 
and apportionment, to the general fund of 
the city, and applied to the reduction of tax- 
ation. The approval by the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment of the certificate 
of the comptroller, as aforesaid, shall be an 
appropriation of the amounts therein 6tated 
to the object or purposes in said certificate 
specified. 

Appropriations out of excise moneys to 

home for girls. 

Sec. 238. There may be paid annually, 
out Of the excise moneys of The City of New 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


31 


York, to the Home for Fallen and Friend- 
less Girls, in said city, the sum of one hun- 
dred and fifty dollars, for the support of every 
fallen and friendless girl received and sup- 
ported by said corporation in their Home 
for Fallen and Friendless Girls for the year 
for which such payment shall be made, and a 
proportional sum for a shorter period in the 
sam^ year. 

Excise moneys; how appropriated. 

Sec. 240. Said board of estimate and ap- 
portionment is authorized, from time to time, 
in sums according to its discretion, by reso- 
lution of said board, to appropriate from ex- 
cise moneys obtained from either local or 
state boards or officers, for taxes or licenses 
for the sale of intoxicating liquors, to such 
benevolent or charitable Institutions in said 
city which shall gratuitously aid, support or 
assist the poor thereof, as may seem to said 
board deserving or proper; and the comp- 
troller shall draw his warrants in favor of 
such institutions respectively mentioned in 
such resolutions, according to the tenor 
thereof, and the chamberlain shall pay such 
warrants out of the said moneys received 
for licenses. The term “poor,” as used in 
this section, shall only include persons who 
would otherwise become a charge upon said 
city, as foundlings, orphans, or such pros- 
tituted or fallen women or juvenile delin- 
quents as may be committed to or cared for 
gratuitously, in or by any reformatory in- 
stitution, protectory or juvenile asylum, and 
persons who are supported, relieved or cared 
for gratuitously, in or by any charitable in- 
stitution for the care or relief of the rup- 
tured or crippled, the cure of hip or spinal 
diseases, the sick, or the destitute, friend- 
less, or infirm, including children of volun- 
teers who died in the late civil war, and the 
care and instruction of idiots, the deaf and 
dumb, the blind and the insane. No pay- 
ments shall be made, in pursuance of this 
section, except as a per capita allowance for 
the poor and destitute persons actually sup 
ported, treated, cared for, or educated in 
the institutions referred to in this section, 
except in the case of the American Female 
Guardian Society and Home for the Friend- 
less, the Children's Aid Society, and the 
Shepherd's Fold of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, which shall severally receive only 
the same amounts as provided by other pro- 
visions of law. The said board of estimate 
and apportionment is also authorized, from 
time to time, and in sums according to its 
discretion, to appropriate, by resolution of 
said board, all moneys derived from penal- 
ties and fines, recovered, pursuant to sec- 
tions fourteen hundred and seventy-three, 
fourteen hundred and eighty-one and four- 
teen hundred and eighty-two of this act, and 
all moneys from licenses for amusements to 
■whatever benevolent or charitable institu- 
tions may 6eem to such board deserving or 
proper; but no such resolution shall be valid 
unless adopted by vote of a majority of 
said board; and the comptroller of said city 
is hereby authorized and directed to draw 
his warrants in favor of the corporations, 
societies or charitable institutions, re- 
spectively mentioned in such resolution ac- 
cording to the tenor thereof; and the cham- 
berlain of said city shall pay such warrants 
out of the said moneys received for such 
penalties, fines and licenses. 

Appropriations for contesting otllce 

to be made for prevailing party only. 

Sec. 241. No appropriation or payment 
for the contesting of the office of mayor 
or any seat in the board of aldermen 
or office in any department, or ti>e of- 


fice of any officer' whose salary is paid 
from the city treasury, shall be made to 
any but the prevailing party. Nor shall any 
such appropriations or payment be made 
to such prevailing party except upon the writ- 
ten certificate of the chief officer of' the law 
department, and of the presiding justice of 
the appellate division of the first department 
of the supreme court certifying who is such 
prevailing party, and the value of the services 
rendered in the case. In case an officer or 
clerk is ordered to be examined, in pursuance 
of law, the corporation counsel shall assign 
some one from his department as counsel for 
the officer or clerk making an application 
therefor. 

Board of estimate nn«l apportionment; 

powers with respect to certain sub- 
jects. 

Sec. 242. The board of estimate and appor- 
tionment shall have power over the following 
subjects: 

(1.) To appropriate, from time to time, for 
the maintenance, improvement and extension 
of the system of water supply of the borough 
of Brooklyn, the moneys received from water 
rents in the said borough, subject, however, 
to the charges now imposed by law upon said 
revenues. 

(2.) To appropriate, from time to time, for 
the maintenance of the New York and Brook- 
lyn Bridge the moneys received from the rev- 
enues of said bridge. 

Board of estimate and apportionment; 

general powers. 

Sec. 243. The said board of estimate and ap- 
portionment shall exercise such powers and 
perform such duties with respect to the whole 
territory embraced within The City of New 
York, as constituted by this act, as were 
heretofore vested in the board of street open- 
ing and improvements of the corporation 
known as the mayor, aldermen and com- 
monalty of the city of New York, with re- 
spect to the territory included within that 
municipality, except so far as the same have 
been otherwise specifically and expressly con- 
ferred by this act. All the maps, records and 
proceedings of the board of public improve- 
ments relating to the subjects as to which 
jurisdiction is conferred by this section upon 
the board of estimate and apportionment shall 
be transferred to, kept and maintained in the 
office of the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment. And the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment shall exercise such other powers 
and perform such other duties as are vested 
in or cast upon it by any of the provisions 
of this act, or that may in accordance with 
the law' be devolved upon it by the board of 
aldermen. All acts or proceedings heretofore 
performed or taken by the board of public 
improvements of The City of New York in 
respect to the powers hereby conferred and 
the duties hereby imposed upon the board of 
estimate and apportionment shall continue to 
be valid and of full force and effect unless 
modified, repealed or abrogated in the man- 
ner provided by law. 

TITLE VI. 

LEVYING TAXES. 
Deficiencies; limits of; levies for. 

Sec. 248. It shall be the duty of the board 
of aldermen to include, in any and every or- 
dinance or resolution passed by them, impos- 
ing and levying taxes for any purpose or pur- 
poses authorized by law, such sum, in addi- 
tion to the aggregate amount required for 
such purposes, as they shall deem necessary, 
ppt esceeedlng thyee per cepty.qi of said ag- 


gregate amount, to provide for deficiencies in 
the actual product of the amount imposed 
and levied therefor. 

Aggregate amonnt apportioned to be 
certified to board of aldermen and 
raised. 

Sec. 249. The aggregate amount estimated 
by the board of aldermen and the board of 
estimate and apportionment, in the annual 
budget, shall be certified by the comptroller 
to the board of aldermen; and it shall be the 
duty of said board of aldermen and they are 
hereby empowered and directed annually to 
cause to be raised, according to law, and col- 
lected by tax upon the estates, real and per- 
sonal, subject to taxation within The City of 
New York, the amount so certified as afore- 
said. 

CHAPTER VII. 

LAW DEPARTMENT. 

Corporation counsel to be the head of 
the law department: dnties; salary. 

Sec. 255. There shall be a law department 
of The City of New York, the head whereof 
shall be called the corporation counsel, who 
shall be the attorney and counsel for The 
City of New York, the mayor, the board of 
aldermen and each and every officer, board 
and department of said city, except as other- 
wise herein provided. The salary of the cor- 
poration counsel shall be fifteen thousand 
dollars a year. The corporation counsel 
shall have charge and conduct of all the law 
business of the corporation and its depart- 
ments and boards, and of all law business in 
which The City of New York is interested, 
except as otherwise herein provided. He 
shall have charge and conduct of the legal 
proceedings necessary in opening, widening, 
altering and closing streets, and in acquiring 
real estate or Interests therein for the city 
by condemnation proceedings, and the prepa- 
ration of all leases, deeds, contracts, bonds 
and other legal papers of the city, or of, or 
connected with, any department, board or 
officer thereof, and he shall approve as to 
form all such contracts, leases, deeds, bond3 
and other legal papers; provided, however, 
that he shall not institute any proceed- 
ing for acquiring title to real estate 
by condemnation proceedings, except for 
opening streets, unless the same shall have 
been approved by the board of estimate and 
apportionment upon a statement to be fur- 
nished said board of the valuation of such 
real estate as assessed for purposes of taxa- 
tion; and provided, further, that the board ef 
estimate and apportionment shall have power 
by a majority vote to direct such changes 
to be made in the forms of contracts and 
specifications as may seem to promote the in- 
terests of the city. He shall be the legal 
adviser of the mayor, the board of aldermen, 
the presidents of the boroughs and the vari- 
ous departments, boards and officers, except 
as otherwise herein provided, and it shall be 
his duty to furnish to the mayor, the board 
of aldermen, the presidents of the boroughs 
and to every department, board and officer 
of the city all such advice and legal assist- 
ance as counsel and attorney in or out of 
court ae may be required by them or either 
of them, and for that purpose the corpora- 
tion counsel may assign an assistant or as- 
sistants to any department that he shall 
deem to need the same. No officer, boaid, 
or department of the city, unless it be herein 
otherwise especially provided, shall have oi 
employ any attorney or counsel, except where 
a judgment or order in an action or proceed 
ing may affect him or them individually or 
may be followed by a motion to commit fop 


32 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


contempt of court, in which case he or they 
may employ and be represented by attorney 
or counsel at his or their own expense. The 
corporation counsel, except as otherwise here- 
in provided, shall have the right to institute 
actions in law or equity, and any proceed- 
ings provided by the code of civil procedure 
or by law in any court, local, state or na- 
tional, to maintain, defend and establish the 
rights, interests, revenues, property, privi- 
leges, franchises or demands of the city or of 
any part or portion thereof, or of the peo- 
ple thereof, or to collect any money, debts, 
fines or penalties or to enforce the laws and 
ordinances. He shall not be empowered to 
compromise, settle or adjust any rights, 
claims, demands or causes of action in favor 
of or against The City of New York; pro- 
vided, however, that this inhibition shall not 
operate to limit or abridge the discretion of 
the corporation counsel in regard to the 
proper conduct of the trial of any proceeding 
or action at law, or to deprive said corpora- 
tion counsel of the powers or privileges or- 
dinarily exercised In the course of litigation 
by attorneys-at-law when acting for private 
clients. He shall not permit, offer or confess 
judgment against the city, or accept any 
offer of judgment in favor of the city without 
the previous written approval of the comp- 
troller; and in case of any claim for a money 
judgment exceeding ten thousand dollars, or 
for relief other than in the nature of a 
money judgment, the previous written ap- 
proval of the mayor shall be also necessary. 

Corporation counsel’s power of ap- 
pointment. 

Sec. 256. The corporation counsel may ap- 
point, and at pleasure remove, as many as- 
sistants to the corporation counsel as are 
necessary to the discharge of the duties of 
the law department, and he may appoint and 
at pleasure remove such clerks, assistants, 
and subordinates as are requisite to the dis- 
charge of the business of the department, 
giving to his appointees such titles or desig- 
nations as he may deem appropriate to their 
services, respectively. Any assistant corpora- 
tion counsel shall, in addition to his other 
powers, possess every power and perform 
all and every duty belonging to the office of 
the corporation counsel, or so much of such 
duties as the corporation counsel shall deem 
It necessary to delegate whenever so em- 
powered by said corporation counsel by writ- 
ten authority, designating therein a period 
of time, not extending beyond three months, 
nor beyond the term of office of said corpora- 
tion counsel, during which such power and 
authority may be exercised; such designa- 
tion and authority must be duly filed and re- 
main on record in the law department, and 
may be revoked at any time. Neither the 
corporation counsel, nor any of his assist- 
ants, shall appear as attorney or counsel in 
any action or litigation except in the dis- 
charge of his official duties, nor accept an 
appointment as referee or receiver in any ac- 
tion or proceeding. 

Branch offices. 

Sec. 257. In addition to the main office of 
the corporation counsel, which shall be lo- 
cated in the borough of Manhattan, he shall 
have an office in the borough of Brooklyn 
and, in his discretion, may maintain an office 
in the borough of The Bronx, the borough of 
Queens and the borough of Richmond, or 
either of them. 

Bureaus. 

Sec. 258. The corporation counsel may es- 
tablish such bureaus for divisions of service 
la the law department as he may judge most 


conducive to the efficient discharge of duty. 
There shall be a bureau in the law depart- 
ment to be known as the "bureau of street 
openings.” It shall have charge under the 
direction of the corporation counsel of such 
legal proceedings to open, widen, alter or 
close streets and parks, and to acquire title 
to or extinguish Interests in real estate 
therefor, and of all such other proceedings in- 
volving awards for damages or assessments 
for benefit to lands, tenements and heredita- 
ments as may be assigned to it by the cor- 
poration counsel. The corporation counsel 
shall appoint and remove, at will, the head 
of said bureau and all other employes thereof, 
and shall regulate their salaries and 
compensation. The assistants to the 
corporation counsel assigned to such 
bureau, shall conduct in his behalf, and 
subject to his direction and control, all 
legal proceedings so assigned, and shall 
also act as clerks to the commissioners of 
estimate or the commissioners of estimate 
and assessment in all such proceedings 
without compensation therefor other than 
their salaries. Such bureau shall furnish 
to the commissioners of estimate or the 
commissioners of estimate and assessment 
in each proceeding, suitable offices and all 
the assistants which they may require in 
preparing their preliminary abstracts of es- 
timate or of estimate and assessment, and 
their final reports for presentation to the 
supreme court for confirmation. The com- 
pensation of the head of said bureau and of 
all other employes thereof, and all the legal 
costs, charges, expenses and disbursements 
incurred by said bureau on account of such 
proceedings, shall be divided proportionate- 
ly, as nearly as practicable, to the services 
rendered or expense incurred in each of said 
proceedings, and shall be included in the as- 
sessment for benefit to be imposed by the 
commissioners of estimate or the commis- 
sioners of estimate and assessmeht in each 
proceeding as part of the costs, charges and 
expenses thereof, after the same shall have 
been taxed by the court in the manner now 
provided by law for the taxation of such 
costs, charges, expenses and disbursements; 
but the compensation of the employes of 
said bureau and the necessary charges, ex- 
penses and disbursements thereof, shall bo 
chargeable to and shall bo paid monthly, in 
the first instance by the comptroller of The 
City of New York, out of the fund known as 
“the fund for street and park openings,” 
created by chapter one hundred and seventy- 
three of the law's of eighteen hundred and 
eighty-five, and the acts amendatory thereof 
and supplemental thereto, upon payrolls and 
vouchers duly certified by the corporation 
counsel. The assistant clerks or other ap- 
pointees, of this bureau, engaged in the 
transaction of business or duties pertaining 
to the borough of Brooklyn, may have their 
office in the borough hall or public building 
of the borough of Brooklyn and if, in the 
judgment of the corporation counsel it be 
convenient and advisable, such of the as- 
sistants, clerks or other appointees of this 
bureau as may be engaged in the transaction 
of business pertaining to the borough of The 
Bronx, the borough of Richmond or the bor- 
ough of Queens, may likewise have an office 
in either of said boroughs. 

Bureau for recovery of penalties. 

Sec. 259. There shall be a bureau in the 
law department for the recovery of penalties 
for the violation of any law or municipal 
ordinance, to be called the "bureau for the 
recovery of penalties.” All actions for such 
recovery shall be brought in the name of 
The City of New York, and not in that of 


any department, except where otherwise pro- 
vided by this act. The assistant corporation 
counsel assigned to this bureau in the main 
office, or in the branch office located in any 
borough, shall not receive for his own use 
any fees or emoluments in addition to his 
salary, and he shall pay into the city treas- 
ury all costs and commissions received by 
him from any source whatever; such pay- 
ments shall be made monthly, and shall be 
accompanied by a sworn statement in such 
form as the comptroller shall prescribe. A 
statement of the costs, commissions, fines 
and penalties collected, shall be published 
in the City Record monthly. All fines or 
moneys, from whatsoever source, received 
by the bead of this bureau, shall be paid into 
the treasury of the city, except as otherwise 
specifically provided by law. The assistant 
corporation counsel assigned to this bureau 
in the main office, or in the branch office 
located in any borough, subject only to the 
approval of the corporation counsel, may 
settle, compromise, adjust, or discontinue, 
any action brought to recover a penalty in 
the name of The City of New York or any 
department, board, bureau, or officer thereof 
provided that the penalty sued for does not 
exceed the sum of one hundred dollars. 

Bnrenn for collection of arrears of 

personal taxes. 

Sec. 260. There shall be a bureau in the 
law department for the collection of arrears 
of personal taxes to be called the "bureau 
for the collection of arrears of personal 
taxes.” The assistant corporation counsel 
assigned to this bureau shall give a bond 
to the City of New York, with one or more 
sureties, to be approved by comptroller and 
corporation counsel, in the penal sum of ten 
thousand dollars, conditioned for the faith- 
ful performance of the duties of the office 
and the payment over of all taxes collected 
by him, which shall be filed in the comp- 
troller’s office, and he and his bondsman or 
bondsmen shall be responsible to the corpo- 
ration therefor. 

Presentation of claims to be pleaded. 

Sec. 261. No action or special proceeding, 
for any cause whatever, shall be prosecuted 
or maintained against The City of New York, 
unless it shall appear by and as an allegation 
in the complaint or necessary moving papers 
that at least thirty days have elapsed since 
the demand, claim or claims upon which such 
action or special proceeding is founded were 
presented to the comptroller of said city for 
adjustment, and that he ha6 neglected or 
refused to make an adjustment or payment 
thereof for thirty days after such present- 
ment. 

Jurisdiction of actions against the 

city. 

Sec. 262. All actions wherein The City of 
New York is made a party defendant shall 
be tried in that county within The City of 
New York in which the cause of action arose, 
or in the county of New York, subject to 
the power of the court to change the place 
of trial in the cases provided by law. 

Service of process. 

Sec. 263. All process and papers for the 
commencement of actions and legal pro- 
ceedings against The City of New York shall 
be served either upon the mayor, the comp- 
troller or the corporation counsel. 

Issuance of exeenttam. ’ TTTH 

Sec. 264. l^o execution shall be issued upon 
any judgment recovered against The City of 
New York until after ten days’ notice, in 
writing, of the recovery of such judgment 
shall have been given to the comptroller. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


33 


Billii of costs In condemnation pro- 
ceedings. 

Sec. 265. No bills of costs for fees of com- 
missioners in and about special proceedings 
instituted for the acquisition of the title 
to lands required by the city of New York 
for public purposes, shall, unless the same 
be payable by law from the fund for street 
and park openings, be taxed by the supreme 
court prior to the confirmation of the report 
of the commissioners appointed in such pro- 
ceedings. — As amended by Laws of 1902, 
Chapter 84. 

CHAPTER Vm. 

POLICE DEPARTMENT. 

Police commissioner; salary; deputies; 

salaries, etc. 

Sec. 270. The head of the police depart- 
ment shall be called the police commission- 
er, who shall be appointed by the mayor, and 
shall, unless sooner removed, hold office for 
the term of five years, and until his suc- 
cessor shall be appointed and has qualified. 
The said commissioner may, whenever, in 
the Judgment of the mayor of said city or 
the governor, the public interests shall so 
require, be removed from office by either, 
and shall be ineligible for reappointment 
thereto. The successors in office of the said 
rommissioner shall also be appointed by the 
mayor of the city within ten days after any 
vacancy shall occur, and shall be removed by 
either the mayor or governor whenever the 
public interests so require. The salary of 
said police commissioner shall be seventy- 
five hundred dollars a year. The said com- 
missioner shall have the power to appoint, 
from the citizens of the United States and 
residents of the said city, and at pleasure 
remove, three deputies, to be known as first 
deputy commissioner, second deputy com- 
missioner and third deputy commissioner. 
The first deputy commissioner shall, during 
the absence or disability of the com- 
missioner, possess all the power and 
perform all the duties of the commission- 
er except the power of making appointments 
and transfers. In the absence or dis- 
ability of both the commissioner and the first 
deputy commissioner, the second deputy 
commissioner shall possess all the powers 
and perform all the duties of the commis- 
sioner except the power of making appoint- 
ments and transfers. In the absence or dis- 
ability of the commissioner, the first deputy 
commissioner and the second deputy commis- 
sioner, the third deputy commissioner shall 
possess all the powers and perform all the 
duties of the commissioner except the power 
of making appointments and transfers. The 
commissioner shall define the duties of the 
deputy commissioners, and may delegate to 
either of them any of his powers except the 
power of making appointments and transfers. 
The salary of each of such deputy commis- 
sioners shall be four thousand dollars a year. 
The comptroller shall, without the concur- 
rence or approval of any other officer, board 
or department, raise the said salary of the 
third deputy commissioner by the issue of 
special revenue bonds as may be required to 
pay said salary of the said commissioners 
during the current year. — As amended by the 
Laws of 1903, Chapter 60. 

Police commissioner; authority. 

Sec. 271. The said police commissioner 
shall have cognizance and control of the gov- 
ernment, administration, disposition and 
discipline of the said police department, and 
of the police force of said department. 


Id.; to inn Ice and enforce rules and 
regulations. 

Sec. 272. The said police commissioner 
shall make, adopt and enforce such rules, 
orders and regulations, and do all such other 
acts as may be reasonably necessary to ef- 
fect a prompt and efficient exercise of all 
powers conferred by law, and the perform- 
ance of all duties imposed by law upon the 
said commissioner or the said department, or 
upon any part of or person in said depart- 
ment. But said commissioner shall do no 
act which is contrary to or inconsistent with 
this act. 

Boards and officers abolished and 
forces consolidated. 

Sec. 273. Except as herein otherwise ex- 
pressly provided, the police department, the 
board of police and the offices of the 
police commissioners of The City of New 
York, provided for by the New York 
City consolidation act of eighteen hundred 
and eighty-two. and the acts amendatory 
thereof, the office of commissioner of po- 
lice and excise of the City of Brooklyn, the 
board cf police commissioners for Long 
Island City and the board of commissioners 
of police for the county of Rich- 
mond are hereby abolished. The re- 
spective police forces and departments 
heretofore existing in the said cities and 
the said county, including the park police 
of the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of 
the city of New York, and the park police 
of the city of Brooklyn, and the police 
force of the New York and Brooklyn bridge 
are hereby consolidated into one depart- 
ment and force to be constituted, controlled 
and administered as provided in this chapter. 

Police department: powers and au- 
thority transferred to. 

Sec. 274. All the rights, powers', authority, 
duties and obligations, immediately hereto- 
fore by law vested in or imposed upon the 
police departments, or either of the boards or 
commissioners mentioned in the last above 
section, shall forthwith by force of and as an 
effect of this chapter be transferred to and 
continue in the police department created 
by this act except in so far as the same 
shall be contrary to or inconsistent with the 
provisions of this chapter. All the rights, 
powers, authority, duties and obligations rela- 
tive to, or connected with the appointment, 
control or cognizance of any police force im- 
mediately heretofore by law vested In or im- 
posed upon the commissioners of public 
parks in The City of New York, the depart- 
ment of parks of the city of Brooklyn, and 
the board of trustees of the New York and 
Brooklyn bridge, shall forthwith, by force of, 
and as an effect of this chapter be transferred 
to and continued in the police department 
created by this act, except in so far as the 
same shall be contrary to or inconsistent 
with the provisions of this chapter. 

Property to vest in Tlte City of New 
York and be managed by police de- 
partment. 

Sec. 276. All money, funds and property, 
and all rights and title to and interest in, 
and possession of and control over and all 
rights to the use and possession of any 
moneys, funds or property, which when this 
act takes effect, shall be vested in, held or 
exercised by the department, or either of 
the boards or commissioners, mentioned in 
section two hundred and seventy-three of 
this act, or which shall then be applicable 
to, or used for the purpose of, or in the 
maintenance of, or in connection with the 
functions or duties of either of the respect- 
ive police forces appointed by the commis- 


sioners of public parks in The City of New 
York, the department of parks of the city 
of Brooklyn, or the said trustees of the New 
York and Brooklyn bridge, shall forthwith 
by force of and as an effect of this chapter, 
be and become vested in The City of New 
York, and the same shall be held, exercised, 
managed, controlled, used and applied by, 
and under the direction of the police depart- 
ment created by this act until it is other- 
wise lawfully provided. No such money, 
funds or property shall, however, be used 
for or applied to any purpose different in 
kind from that for or to which the same 
might ♦’ Mofore have been lawfully used 
or appl until such different use or appli- 
cation sftSll first have been lawfully author- 
ized. 

Police force; composition. 

Sec. 276. Until otherwise provided by the 
board of aldermen, upon the recommen- 
dation of the mayor and the police 
commissioner, the police force in the 
police department created by this chapter, 
shall consist of the following members, to 
wit: Fifteen inspectors of police; captains of 
police, not exceeding in number one to each 
fifty of the total number of patrolmen, except 
in the rural portion of the city; sergeant® of 
police, not exceeding four in number to each 
fifty Of the total number of patrolmen; 
roundsmen not exceeding four in number to 
each fifty patrolmen; detective sergeants to 
the number authorized by law; the members 
of the telegraph force as specified in section 
two hundred and seventy-seven of this act; 
the telegraph operators to rank as sergeants 
of police; the superintendent and inspectors 
of boilers as specified in section three hundred 
and forty-two of this act; doormen of police, 
not exceeding two in number to each fifty of 
the total number of patrolmen; surgeons of 
police, not exceeding forty in number, one of 
whom shall be chief surgeon, and patrolmen 
to the number of six thousand three hundred 
and eighty-two. The deputy chiefs of police 
who shall have been in said office prior to the 
time when this act shall take effect shall 
become inspectors of police with the sala- 
ries of deputy chiefs and the rights granted 
to deputy chiefs in respect to the relief pen- 
sion fund. — As amended by Laws of 1901, 
Chapter 730. 

Id.; members of former forces in New 
York city transferred. 

Sec. 277. The members of the police force 
of The City of New York and the members 
of the police force appointed by the commis- 
sioners of public parks in said city, as said 
forces are provided for by sections two hun- 
dred and sixty-five and six hundred and nine- 
ty of the New York city consolidation act of 
eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and by the 
statutes amendatory of and supplementary 
to said sections, who shall be such members 
of said forces respectively when this act takes 
effect, shall be members of the police force 
specified in section two hundred and seventy- 
six of this act. The employes of the tele- 
graph force of the police department, of the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of The City 
of New York who are in office when this act 
takes effect, shall take the same rank in the 
police force specified in section two hundred 
and seventy-six of this act as the telegraph 
force of the police department of the city of 
Brooklyn has under existing laws; provided, 
however, that until otherwise ordered by the 
police commissioner, the superintendent of 
telegraph of the police force of the mayor, 
aldermen and commonalty of the City of New 
York shall be superintendent of telegraph for 
the police force specified in said section two 


34 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.. 


hundred and seventy-six qf this act; and the 
deputy superintendent of telegraph of the po- 
lice force of said, the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of The City of New York, shall be 
deputy superintendent of telegraph in the 
central office in the borough of Manhattan; 
and the superintendent of telegraph of the 
police force of the city of Brooklyn shall be 
superintendent of police telegraph for the 
borough of Brooklyn. 

Id.s members of former forces in 
Brooklyn transferred. 

Sec. 278. The superintendent an'* deputy 
superintendent of police, and each . actor, 
captain, sergeant, detective-sergeant, S • unds- 
man, patrolman, doorman, bridge-keeper, po- 
lice surgeon, superintendent of telegraph and 
telegraph operator, who is. when this act 
takes effect in, of, or attached to the police 
force of the city of Brooklyn, or the police 
force appointed by the department of parks 
of said city, or the police force appointed by 
the board of trustees of the New York and 
Brooklyn bridge, pursuant to section eight 
of chapter three hundred of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and seventy-five, and the 
acts amendatory thereof, or supplementary 
thereto, shall be members of the police force 
specified in section two hundred and seventy- 
six of this act. 

Id,; members of former force in Long; 
Island City transferred. 

Sec. 279. The lawfully appointed captain, 
sergeant and patrolmen of the police force 
of Long Island City, who shall be such when 
this chapter takes effect, shall be members 
of the police force, specified in section two 
hundred and seventy-six of this act. 

Id.; members of former force in Rich- 
mond county transferred. 

Sec. 280. The captain and each sergeant, 
roundsman and patrolman of the police force 
of the county of Richmond, or of any town or 
village in that part of the county of Queens 
included in The City of New York, as hereby 
constituted, shall be members of the police 
force specified in section two hundred and 
seventy-six of this act. 

Police commissioners authority over 
members transferred by preceding; 
sections; rank of transferred mem- 
bers. 

Sec. 281. The police commissioner created 
by this act shall have the same powers, con- 
trol and authority over the members of the 
police force, transferred thereto by sections 
two hundred and seventy-seven, two hun- 
dred and seventy-eight, two hundred and sev- 
enty-nine and two hundred and eighty of this 
act, and over their tenure of such member- 
ship and removal therefrom, as the said com- 
missioner shail have over the members of 
said force, appointed thereto by him and es- 
pecially, except as otherwise provided by 
this chapter, to fix and assign the rank, title, 
duties, powers and place of service of said 
transferred members. Until by said com- 
missioner otherwise provided the rank, title, 
duties, powers and place of service of said 
transferred members shall be the same as 
they were in the police force to which they 
belonged before this act took effect. 

Id.; authority over employes of for- 
mer boards; duties and salaries of 
such employes. 

Sec. 282. All clerks, matrons, secretaries, 
and other subordinates, assistants and em- 
ployes attached to, or in the service of the 
department or either of the boards or com- 


missioners specified in section two hundred 
and seventy-three of this act, until it shall be 
otherwise provided by the police commis- 
sioner created by this act, shall perform like 
services and duties and receive therefor the 
same salaries or compensations as they 
performed and received respectively prior to 
this act taking effect. But such clerks, 
matrons, secretaries and other subordinates, 
assistants and employes, their services, 
duties, salaries or compensation, tenure of 
and removal from their positions or employ- 
ment shall in all respects be subject to the 
control and authority of the police commis- 
sioner created by this act. 

Id.; power to appoint and remove 

members and employes; salaries and 

lines. 

Sec. 283. Subject to the powers by this act 
conferred on the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment and the board of aldermen of 
The City of New York, and to such other 
provisions of this act as may limit their 
power in the premises, the police commis- 
sioner created by this act shall have power 
to appoint and remove as hereinafter pro- 
vided the members of the police force speci- 
fied in section two hundred and seventy-six 
of this act, and also such clerks, police 
matrons, secretaries and other subordinates, 
assistants and employes as may be reason- 
ably necessary to the proper performance 
of the duties and execution of the powers 
and functions of the police department cre- 
ated by this act, or of any of the component 
parts thereof, and to prescribe their respect- 
ive ranks and duties. The salary or com- 
pensation of members of the police force 
shall be subject to all fines, penalties, for- 
feitures and deductions lawfully imposed for 
cause. 

Police force; qualifications of mem- 
bers; publishing names and resi- 
dence of applicants and appointees. 

Sec. 284. No person shall be appointed or 
reappointed to membership in the police 
force or continue to hold membership therein, 
who is not a citizen of the United States, or 
who has ever been convicted of felony, or 
Who cannot read and write understandingly 
the English language, or who shall not have 
resided within the 6tate one year next pre- 
ceding his appointment, but skilled officers 
of experience may be appointed for detective 
duty who have not resided as herein re- 
quired. No person shall be appointed patrol- 
man who shall be at the date of placing his 
name on the civil service eligible list over 
thirty years of age; no person shall be ap- 
pointed doorman who shall be at the date of 
placing his name on the civil service eligible 
list over thirty-five years of age, and no per- 
son who shall have been a member of the 
fcrce and shall have been dismissed there- 
from shall be reappointed. The name, resi- 
dence and occupation of each applicant for 
appointment or reappointment toanyposition 
in the police department, as Well as the name, 
residence and occupation of each person ap- 
pointed to any position, shall be published, 
and such publication shall, in every instance, 
be made, on the Saturday next succeeding 
such application, or appointment, in the City 
Record. — As amended by Laws of 1903, Chap- 
ter 612. 

III.; warrant of appointment; oath. 

Sec. 285. Every member of the police force 
shall have issued to him, by the police depart- 
ment, a proper warrant of appointment, signed 
by the police commissioner and chief clerk 
or first deputy clerk of said department or of 
the police commissioner, which warrant shall 


1 contain the date of appointment and rank. 
Each member of the police force shail, before 
entering upon ths duties of his office, take 
an oath of office and subscribe the same be- 
fore any officer of the police department who 
is empowered to administer an oath. 

III.; promotions. , 

Sec. 288. Promotions of officers and mem- 
bers of the police force shall be made by the 
police commissioner, as provided in section 
one hundred and twenty-four of this act, on 
the basis of seniority, meritorious police 
service and superior capacity, as shown by 
competitive examination. Individual acts of 
personal bravery may be treated as an ele- 
ment of meritorious service in such examina- 
tion, the relative rating therefor to be fixed 
by the municipal civil service commission. 
The police commissioner shall transmit to the 
municipal civil service commission in ad- 
vance of such examination the complete rec- 
ord of each candidate for promotion. Rounds- 
men shall be selected from among patrolmen 
of the first grade, but roundsmen may be re- 
duced to the grade of patrolmen at any time 
by the police commissioner after due trial 
upon charges, the determination of which 
may be reviewed by writ of certiorari. Ser- 
geants of police shall be selected from among 
roundsmen who shall have served at least 
two years continuously as such. Captains 
shall be selected from among sergeants who 
shall have served at least three years as 
such. Inspectors shall be selected from 
among captains who shall have served at 
least two years as such. 

Id.; increase of. 

Sec. 289. The police commissioner is au- 
thorized to increase the police force by add- 
ing to the number of patrolmen from time 
to time, provided the board of estimate and 
apportionment and the board of aldermen 
shall have previously made an appropriation 
for that express purpose, such increase not 
to exceed one hundred and fifty in any one 
year. The board of estimate and apportion- 
ment and the board of aldermen may include 
in the annual budget from year to year, and 
the comptroller shall certify, as required by 
law, to the board of aldermen and the board 
of aldermen shall include in the annual tax 
levy an amount sufficient to provide for the 
compensation of the additional patrolmen 
authorized to be appointed pursuant to the 
provisions of this section. 

III.; central office Imrean of detectives. 

Sec. 290. The police commissioner shall 
maintain a bureau which shall be called the 
central office bureau of detectives, and shall 
select and appoint to perform detective duty 
therein from the patrolmen or roundsmen 
as many detectives as the said commissioner 
may from time to time determine necessary 
to make that bureau efficient. The patrolmen 
or roundsmen so selected and appointed, and 
the patrolmen or roundsmen heretofore se- 
lected, appointed or assigned to perform de- 
tective duty in the detective bureau, or in 
what is known as the headquarters squad, 
and who were acting in said bureau or squad 
on the first day of April, nineteen hundred 
and one, shall be knowm as detective ser- 
geants, shall act as such in said bureau, and 
shall hold the same rank and shall be eligible 
for promotion in the entire police force in 
the city under the same rules and conditions 
applicable to the promotion of all other ser- 
geants of police in said city, and shall not 
be reduced in rank or salary except in the 
manner provided by law for sergeants and 
other officers of the police force. These 
patrolmen or roundsmen known as detective 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


sergeants on the first day of April, nineteen 
hundred and one, as aforesaid in the detec- 
tive bureau, shall have the power to draw and 
be paid the same pay as other sergeants of 
police. Nothing in this section shall be con- 
strued to authorize the police commissioner 
to appoint any additional patrolmen in place 
of said detective sergeants. The headquar- 
ters of the said central office bureau of de- 
tectives shall be at the police headquarters 
in the borough of Manhattan and a branch 
office thereof shall be maintained at the po- 
lice headquarters in the borough of Brooklyn, 
and other branch offices thereof may be main- 
tained at the police headquarters In each of 
the other boroughs into which The City of 
New York Is divided by this act. 

No member of department to be inter- 
ested in other office. 

Sec. 591. Any police commissioner, or any 
member of the police force, who shall, after 
qualifying In office, accept any additional 
place of public trust, or civil emolument, or 
who shall during his term of office bo pub- 
licly nominated for any office elective by the 
people, and Shall not, within ten days suc- 
ceeding the same, publicly decline the said 
nomination, shall be in either case deemed 
thereby to have resigned his commission and 
to have vacated his office, and all votes cast 
at any election for any person holding the 
office of police commissioner, or within thir- 
ty days after he shall have resigned such of- 
fice, shall be void. 

Police commissioner; duties and pow- 
ers. 

Sec. 292. The police commissioner shall be 
the chief executive officer of the police force. 
He shall be chargeable with and responsible 
for the execution of all laws and the rules 
and regulations of the. department. He shall 
assign to duty the officers and members of the 
police force, and shall have power to change 
such assignments from time to time, when- 
ever, in his judgment, the exigencies of the 
service may require such change. He shall 
have power to suspend without pay, pending 
tl-.e trial of charges, any member of the po- 
lice force. If any member of the police force 
so suspended shall not be convicted by the 
police commissioner of the charges so pre- 
ferred, he shall be entitled to full pay from 
the date of suspension, notwithstanding such 
charges and suspension. Said police com- 
missioner may grant leaves of absence to 
members of the force for a period not exceed- 
ing five days. 

Police surgeons; duties and districts. 

Sec. 294. The duties of the police sur- 
geons, and the extent and bounds of their 
districts, shall be assigned, from time to 
time, by the rules and regulations of the 
police commissioner. The police commission- 
er may, if requested by the department of 
health, designate police surgeons to aid the 
sanitary inspectors in the discharge of their 
duties, under such regulations and orders as 
the police commissioner may make and issue. 

Payment of salaries nnd obligations of 

department. 

Sec. 297. The comptroller shall pay all 
salaries and wages to officers and members 
of the police department and force, as es- 
tablished by and in pursuance of law, and all 
bills, claims and obligations lawfully in- 
curred -by or by authority of said police de- 
partment in the same manner as salaries and 
wages and bills, claims and obligations of 
other departments are paid. But the comp- 
troller shall pay over and advance from time 
to time to the police commissioner such por- 


tions of the appropriation made to the police 
department for contingent expenses, not ex- 
ceeding ten thousand dollars at any one 
time, for which requisition may be made by 
said police commissioner. The police com- 
missioner shall transmit to the department 
of finance the original vouchers for the pay- 
ment of all sums of money disbursed by him 
on account of such contingent expenses, and 
no greater sum than ten thousand dollars in 
excess of the amount duly accounted for by 
said vouchers shall be advanced to said 
police commissioner at jiny one time. The 
police commissioner shall give a bond of ten 
thousand dollars, with two sufficient sure- 
ties, to be approved by the comptroller, for 
the faithful performance of the duties im- 
posed and privileges conferred upon him by 
this section. The police commissioner shall 
procure and pay for all printing, books, 
blanks, paper, and other articles of station- 
ery required for the administration and bus- 
iness of the department and each bureau 
thereof. 

Id.; copy of minntes nlicn evidence. 

Sec. 298. A copy of the minutes of the 
police commissioner or of any part of said 
minutes, or of any order or resolution of 
said commissioner, or of the rules and 
regulations established by said commissioner 
when certified by the police commissioner 
or tho chief clerk, or first deputy clerk of 
said police department, may be given in evi- 
dence upon any trial, Investigation, hearing 
or proceeding in any court, or before any 
tribunal, commissioner or commissioners, or 
board, with the same force and effect as the 
original. 

Salaries of officers ami members of the 

force. 

Sec. 299. The annual salaries and compen- 
sation of the officers and members of the po- 
lice force shall he as follows, to wit: Of 
each inspector of police who was heretofore 
a deputy chief of police, as provided in Sec- 
tion two hundred and seventy-six of this act, 
five thousand dollars; of each inspector of 
police, three thousand five hundred dollars; 
of each captain of police, two thousand seven 
hundred and fifty dollars; of each police 
surgeon, three thousand dollars; of each ser- 
geant of police, including detective sergeants, 
two thousand dollars; of each doorman, one 
thousand dollars; of each roundsman, one 
thousand five hundred dollars; and the grade 
and pay or compensation of patrolmen or 
policemen shall be as follows, to wit: All 
such members who are patrolmen and who 
shall have served five years or upwards on 
said force, shall he members of tbe first 
grade. All such members who shall have 
served on such force for less than five years 
and more than four years and six months, 
shall be members of the second grade. All 
such members who shall have served on such 
force for less than four years and six months 
and more than four years shall be members 
of the third grade. All such members who 
shall have served on such force for less than 
four years and more than three years, shall 
be members of the fourth grade. All such 
members who shall have served on such iorce 
for less than three years and more than two 
years, shall be members of the fifth grade. 
All such members who shall have served on 
such force for less than two years and more 
than one year, shall be members of the sixth 
grade. And all persons appointed patrolmen 
on or after the first day of January, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-eight, shall he members 
of the seventh grade. Whenever any mem- 
ber of the seventh grade shall have done 
service therein for one year, he shall be ad- 


vanced to thp sixth grade. Whenever any 
member of the sixth grade shall have done 
service therein for ono year, ho shall be ad- 
vanced to the fifth grade. W'henever any 
member of the fifth grade shall have done 
service therein for ono year, he shall be ad- 
vanced to the fourth grade. Whenever any 
member of the fourth grade shall have done 
service therein for one year, he shall be ad- 
vanced to the third grade. Whenever any 
member of the third grade shall have done 
service therein for six months, he shall be 
advanced to the second grade. And any 
member <^_*aid force who shall have served 
six mon ^jSsT.i the second grade, shall become 
a memb^yof the first grade. But no such 
patrolman shall be st> advanced as afore- 
said, except after examination and approval 
by the police commissioner of his record, ef- 
ficiency, and conduct. The annual pay or 
compensation of the members of fhe police 
toTce who are patrolmen, as aforesaid, shall 
be as follows: For members of the first grade, 
at the rate of not less than one thousand 
four hundred dollars each; for members of 
the second grade, at the rate of not less 
than one thousand three hundred and fifty 
dollars each; for members of the third grade, 
at the rate of not less than one thousand 
two hundred and fifty dollars each; for mem- 
bers of the four grade, at the rate of not 
less than one thousand one hundred and 
fifty dollars each; for members of the fifth 
grade, at the rate of not less than one thou- 
sand dollars each; for members of the sixth 
grade, at the rate of not less than nine 
hundred dollars each; for members of the 
seventh grade, at the rate of not less than 
eight hundred dollars each. The pay or 
compensation aforesaid sh'all be paid monthly 
to each person entitled thereto, subject to 
such deductions for or on account of lost 
time, sickness, disability, absence, fines, or 
forfeitures, as the police department may, 
by rules and regulations, from time to time 
prescribe or adopt. Nothing in this section 
contained shall be construed to change in 
any way the salaries or grading, present 
or prospective, of the patrolmen or police- 
men n no are or become members of the 
New York police force prior to January first, 
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. All other 
patrolmen or policemen of the various po- 
lice forces consolidated into a single force 
by the provisions of this act, shall belong, 
so far as pay or compensation is concerned, 
to the grade indicated by the pay or com- 
pensation which they are respectively receiv- 
ing on January first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight. But nothing in this section 
contained shall be construed to affect in any 
other Way the rights and privileges secured 
under the provisions of this act to the mem- 
bers of the various police forces consolidated 
into a single force by this act. The date 
for the eligibility of any member of the 
forces transferred to the consolidated force 
by sections two hundred and seventy-seven, 
two hundred and seventy-eight, two hundred 
and seventy-nine and two hundred and eigh- 
ty of this act for advancement to the next 
grade, shall be the day of the year On which 
he was originally appointed to the force 
from which he was transferred; and any 
member of the forces so transferred not a 
member of the New York police force prior 
to January first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight, whose salary falls between 
two grades, shall receive the salary of and 
be assigned to the grade next above the 
salary, he is receiving at the time of 
transfer. Salaries'of all officers in the forces 
so transferred, other than officers in the 
New York police prior to January first, 


3G 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall be 
equalized on the same basis. If the differ- 
ence in pay is not more than fifty dollars, 
the pay shall be equalized at once. If the 
difference is more than fifty dollars, the pay 
shall be made uniform within three years 
by equal annual additions. 

Police pommliaioneri mien, etc., for 
government and discipline of police 
department and police force; trials, 
dismissals. 

Sec. 300. The police commissioner is au- 
thorized and empowered to make, adopt 
and enforce rules, orders and rr^jagations 
for the government, discipline, adtSgftstra- 
tion and disposition of the police depart- 
ment and police force and the members 
thereof. He shall have power and is author- 
ized to adopt rules and regulations for the 
examination, hearing, investigation and de- 
termination of charges made or preferred 
against any member or members of the said 
police force, but no member or members of 
the police force except as otherwise provided 
in this chapter shall be fined, reprimanded, 
removed, suspended or dismissed from the 
police force until written charges shall have 
been made or preferred against him or them, 
nor until such charges have been examined, 
heard and investigated before the police 
commissioner or one of his deputies, upon 
such reasonable notice to the member or 
members charged, and in such manner of 
procedure, practice, examination and inves- 
tigation as the said commissioner may, by 
rules and regulations, from time to time pre- 
scribe. The trial of any member of the police 
force upon charges shall be held in the bor- 
ough within which the accused member was, 
serving at the time the charge was preferred. 
Any member of the police force who may 
hereafter become insane or of unsound mind, 
so as to be unable or unfit to perform full 
police service or duty, may be removed and 
dismissed from the police force by the com- 
missioner. 

Police commissioner, etc., mny Issue 
snhpoenas; who may administer 
oaths. 

Sec. 301. The police commissioner and hi? 
deputies shall have power to issue subpoenas, 
attested in the name of the police commis- 
sioner, and to exact and compel obedience to 
any order, subpoena or mandate issued by 
them, and to that end may institute and 
prosecute any proceedings or action author- 
ized by law in such cases. He or either of 
his deputies may in proper cases issue sub- 
poenas duces tecum. Such police commis- 
sioner may devise, make and issue process 
and forms of proceedings to carry into ef- 
fect any powers or jurisdiction possessed by 
him. The police commissioner, each of hl3 
deputies, each deputy chief of police, the 
*hief clerk and first deputy clerk of said 
police department are hereby authorized and 
empowered to administer oaths and affirma- 
tions in the usual or appropriate forms, to 
any person in any matter or proceedings au- 
thorized as aforesaid, and in all matters 
pertaining to the police department, or the 
duties of any officer or other person in mat- 
ters of or connected with said department, 
and to administer oaths of office whieh may 
be taken or required in the administration or 
affairs of said department, and to take and 
administer oaths and affirmations, in the 
usual or appropriate forms in taking any affi- 
davit or deposition which may be necessary 
or required by law or by any order, rule, 
or regulation of the police commissioner for 
or in connection with the official purposes, 
affairs, powers, duties or proceedings of said 


police department, or of said police commis- 
sioner, or member of the police force, or any 
official purpose lawfully authorized by said 
commissioner. Any person making a com- 
plaint that a felony or misdemeanor has been 
committed may be required to make oath or 
affirmation thereto, a»d for this purpose the 
police commissioner, each of his deputies, the 
deputy chiefs of police, the chief clerk, or 
deputy clerks of the police department, the 
inspectors, captains and sergeants of police 
shall have pow r er to administer oaths and 
affirmations. 

Police commissioner; punishments by; 

limitations of salts for reinstate- 
ments, etc. 

Sec. 302. The police commissioner shall 
have pow’er, in his discretion, on conviction 
by him or by any court or officer of competent 
jurisdiction, of a member of the force of any 
criminal offense, or neglect of duty, viola- 
tion of rules, or neglect or disobedience of 
orders, or absence without leave, or any con- 
duct injurious to the public peace or welfare, 
or immoral conduct or conduct unbecoming 
an officer, or any breach of discipline, to pun- 
ish the offending party by reprimand, for- 
feiting and withholding pay for a specified 
time, suspension, without pay during such 
suspension, or by dismissal from the force; 
but no more than thirty days’ pay or salary 
shall be forfeited or deducted for any offense. 
All such forfeitures shall be paid forthwith 
to tne treasurer of the department to the ac- 
count of the pt>lice pension fund. The police 
commissioner is also authorized and em- 
powered, in his discretion, to deduct and 
withhold pay, salary or compensation from 
any member or members of the police force, 
for or on account of absence for any cause 
without leave, lost time, sickness or other 
disability, physical or mental; provided, how- 
ever, that the pay, salary or compensation 
so deducted and withheld shall not, except in 
case of absence without leave, exceed one- 
half thereof for the period of such absence, 
any act or law to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing; and said police commissioner is author- 
ized anil empowered from time to time to 
make and prescribe rules and regulations to 
carry into effect and enforce the provisions 
of this section. No action, suit or proceed- 
ing, either at law- or in equity, shall be com- 
menced or maintained against the police de- 
partment. or any member thereof, or against 
the police commissioner, or against the 
mayor, or against The City of New York by 
any member or officer, or former member or 
officer of or belonging to the police force or 
department of said city to recover or compel 
the payment of any salary, pay, money or 
compensation for or on account of any service 
or duty, or to recover any salary, compensa- 
tion or moneys, or any part thereof forfeited, 
deducted or withheld for any cause, unless 
such action, suit or proceedings shall oe 
commenced within two years after the cause 
of action shall have accrued; provided that 
causes of action or proceedings which shall 
have heretofore accrued may be begun or 
brought within six years after the same shall 
have accrued and within two years after the 
passage of this act; but nothing in this sec- 
tion contained shall be construed or held to 
extend the time in which causes of action 
or proceedings which shall have heretofore 
accrued must be brought, and no proceeding 
shall be brought to procure the restoration 
or reinstatement to said police force or de- 
partment of any member or officer thereof, 
unless said proceeding shall be instituted 
within four months after the decision or or- 
der sought to be reviewed. Said proceeding 
when so brought shall be placed upon the 
calendar by the party instituting the same. 


for hearing, for a term of the court not later 
than the second term after the filing of the 
answer or return in said proceeding, and of 
service of notice of said filing upon the party 
instituting said proceeding. And in the event 
of the failure of the party instituting the 
said proceeding to place the said proceeding 
upon the said calendar, then the said pro- 
ceeding shall be dismissed for want of prose- 
cution upon application to that effect by the 
corporation counsel, unless the court for good 
and sufficient cause shall otherwise order. 

Police force; resignations and ab- 
sences on leave. 

Sec. 303. No member of the police force, 
under penalty of forfeiting the salary or pay 
which may be due him, shall withdraw or re- 
sign, except by permission of the police com- 
missioner. Absence, without leave, of any 
member of the police force for five consecu- 
tive days shall be deemed and held to be a 
resignation, and the member so absent shall, 
at the expiration of said period cease to be a 
member of the police force and be dismissed 
therefrom without notice. No leave of ab- 
sence exceeding twenty days in any one year 
shall hereafter be granted or allowed to any 
member of the police force, except upon the 
condition that such member shall waive and 
release not less than one-half of all salary, 
pay or compensation and claim thereto dur- 
ing such absence. 

Police commissioner; rewards to in- 
formers. 

Sec. 305. The police commissioner shall have 
authority to offer rewards to induce all 
classes of persons to give information which 
shall lead to the detection, arrest and con- 
viction of persons guilty of homicide, arson, 
or receiving stolen goods, knowing them to be 
stolen; and to pay such rewards to such per- 
sons as shall give such information. But no 
such reward shall be offered unless there be 
an unexpended appropriation therefor made 
by the board of estimate and apportionment, 
which shall make the necessary appropriation 
for such purpose. 

Police force; gratuities and political 

contributions forbidden; may be per- 
mitted to obtain rewards. 

Sec. 30G. No member of the police fore* 
or employe of the police department shall, 
under any pretense whatsoever, share in, for 
his own benefit, any present, fee, gift or 
emolument for police services, or for services 
of the police department or any member 
thereof, additional to his regular salary, pay 
or compensation. The police commissioner 
for meritorious and extraordinary services 
rendered by any member of the police force 
in due discharge of his duty, may permit such 
member of the police force to retain for hla 
own benefit any reward or present, or some 
part thereof, tendered him therefor; and it 
shall be cause for removal from the police 
force for any member thereof to receive any 
such reward or present without notice thereof 
to the police commissioner. Upon receiving 
said notice, the police commissioner may 
either order the said member to retain the 
same, or shall dispose of it for the benefit of 
tho police pension fund. No person in the 
police force shall be permitted to contribute 
any moneys, directly or indirectly, to any 
political fund, or to join or be or become a 
member of any political club or association 
or any club or association intended to affect 
legislation for or on behalf of the police de- 
partment or any member thereof, or to con- 
tribute any funds for such purpose. 

I«l.; detail of policemen at polls. 

Sec. 307. It shall be the duty of the police 
commissioner to detail, or to cause to be de- 
tailed on election day, at least two patrol- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


37 


men at each election poll. It shall be the 
duty of the police force, or any member 
thereof, to prevent any booth, or box, or 
structure for the distribution of tickets at 
any election from being erected or maintained 
within one hundred and fifty feet of any 
polling place within the city, and summarily 
to remove any such booth, box or structure, 
or to close and prevent the use thereof. 

Id.j special patrolmen; when may be 

appointed; military assistance. 

Sec. 308. The police commissioner may, 
upon an emergency or apprehension of riot, 
tumult, mob, Insurrection, pestilence or inva- 
sion, appoint as many special patrolmen 
without pay from among the citizens as he 
may deem desirable. The mayor, or, in case 
of hie failure so to do, the governor may de- 
mand the assistance of the militia of the 
state within the city, or of any brigade, regi- 
ment or company thereof, by order in writ- 
ing served upon the commanding officer of 
any brigade and such commanding officer shall 
obey such order. Special patrolmen, appoint- 
ed in pursuance of law, may be dismissed by 
order of the police commissioner ; and while 
acting as such special patrolmen shall possess 
the powers, perform the duties, and be sub- 
ject to the orders, rules and regulations of 
the police department in the same manner 
as regular patrolmen. Every such special 
patrolman shall wear a badge, to be pre- 
scribed and furnished by the police commis- 
sioner. No transfer, detail or assignment to 
special duty of any member of the police 
force, except in cases authorized or required 
by law, shall hereafter be made or continued, 
except for police reasons and in the interests 
of police service; provided, however, that the 
police commissioner may, whenever the exi- 
gencies of the case require it, make detail 
to special duty for a period not exceeding 
three days, at the expiration of which the 
member or members so detailed shall report 
for duty to the officer of the command from 
which the detail was made. The police com- 
missioner, whenever expedient, may on the 
application of any person or persons, corpo- 
ration or corporations, showing the necessity 
therefor, appoint and swear any number of 
special patrolmen to do special duty at any 
place in The City of New York upon the per- 
son or persons, corporation or corporations by 
whom the application shall be made, paying, 
in advance such special patrolmen for their 
services, and upon such special patrolmen, in 
consideration of their appointment, signing 
an agreement in writing releasing and 
waiving all claim whatever against the 
police department and The City of New 
York for pay, salary or compensation for 
their services and for all expenses connected 
therewith; but the special patrolmen so ap- 
pointed shall be subject to the orders of the 
chief of police and shall obey the rules and 
regulations of the police department and con- 
form to its general discipline and to such 
special regulations as may be made and shall 
during the term of their holding appointment 
possess all the powers and discharge all the 
duties of the police force, applicable to regu- 
lar patrolmen. The special patrolmen so 
appointed may be removed at any time by the 
police commissioner, without assigning cause 
therefor, and nothing in this section contained 
shall be construed to constitute such special 
patrolmen members of the police force, or to 
entitle them to the privilege of the regular 
members of the force, or to receive any sal- 
ary, pay, compensation or moneys whatever 
from the said police department or The City 
of New York, or to share In the police pen- 
sion fund. 


Police coiuntiMslouer; detail persons 

to attend coarts. 

Sec. 309. It shall be the duty of the police 
commissioner to cause some intelligent and 
experienced person connected with the police 
force to attend at the courts of the city in 
cases where there is need of such assistance, 
who shall, to such extent as the rules of the 
board of magistrates may reasonably require, 
aid in bringing the facts before the magis- 
trates in proceedings pending in such police 
courts. 

Police department to co-operate with 

department of health. 

Sec. 310. It shall be the duty of the police 
department (and of its officers and men, as 
said police commissioner shall direct) to 
promptly advise the department of health of 
all threatened danger to human life and 
health, and of all matters thought to demand 
its attention, and to regularly report to said 
department of health all violations of its 
rules and ordinances, and of the health laws, 
and all useful sanitary information. Said de- 
partment shall, so far as practicable and ap- 
propriate, co-operate for the promotion of tho 
public health and the safety of human life 
in said city. It shall be the duty of said po- 
lice department, by and through its proper 
officers, agents and men, to faithfully and at 
the proper time enforce and execute the sani- 
tary rules and regulations, and the orders of 
said department of health (made pursuant to 
the power of said department of health), upon 
the same being received in writing and duly 
authenticated as said department of health 
may direct. Said police department is au- 
thorized to employ and use the appropriate 
persons and means, and to make the neces- 
sary expenditures for the execution and en- 
forcement of said rules, orders and regula- 
tions, and such expenditures, so far as the 
same may not be refunded or compensated by 
the means herein elsewhere provided, shall be 
paid as the other expenses of said department 
of health are paid. In and about the execu- 
tion of any order of the department of health, 
or of the police department made pursuant 
thereto, police officers and policemen shall 
have as ample power and authority as when 
obeying any order of or law applicable to 
the police department; but for their conduct 
they shall be responsible to the police depart- 
ment and not to the department of health. 
The department of health may, with the con- 
sent of the police department, impose any 
portion of the duties of subordinates in said 
department upon subordinates in the police 
department. 

Police force; arrests for violation of 

health laws. 

Sec. 311. Any member of the police force 
may arrest without warrant any person who 
shall, in view of such member, violate, or do, 
or be engaged in doing or committing in said 
city, any act or thing forbidden by chapter 
nineteen of this act. or by any law or by any 
ordinance the authority to enact which is 
given by this act or any other statute or who 
shall, in such presence, resist or be engaged 
in resisting the lawful enforcement of any 
such law or ordinance or any official order 
made pursuant to any statute of this state. 
And any person so arrested shall thereafter 
•be treated, disposed of and punished as any 
other person duly arrested for a misde- 
meanor unless other provision is made for 
the case by law. 

Id.; detail of officers and men to assist 

department of health. 

Sec. 312. The police commissioner, upon the 
requisition of the board of health, shall de- 
tail to the service of the said department of 


health for the purpose of the enforcement 
of the provisions of tho sanitary code, and 
of the acts relating to tenement and lodging 
houses, not lees than fifty nor more than 
one hundred suitable officers and men of ex- 
perience of at least five years’ service in the 
police force. At least thirty of the officers 
and men so detailed shall be employed ex- 
clusively in the enforcement of the laws 
relating to tenement and lodging houses. 
These officers and men shall belong to the 
sanitary company of police, and shall report 
to the . board of health. The board of 
health may report back to the police depart- 
ment for punishment any member of said 
company guilty of any breach of order or 
discipline, or of neglecting his duty, and 
thereupon the police commissioner shall de- 
tail another officer or man in his place, and 
the discipline of the said members of the 
sanitary company shall be In the Jurisdiction 
of the police department, but at any time 
the board of health may object to any mem- 
ber of said sanitary company on the ground 
of inefficiency, and thereupon another officer 
or man shall be detailed in his place. 

Id.; detail of officers and men to assist 

the department of public parks. 

Sec. 313. The police commissioner, upon the 
requisition of the pafk board, shall from time 
to time detail to the service of the depart- 
ment of parks, for the enforcement of the 
park ordinances and for the maintenance of 
good order in the parks, so many suitable of- 
ficers and men as in the Judgment of the po- 
lice commissioner are necessary. Such of- 
ficers and men shall continue to be in all re- 
'spects an integral part of the police force of 
the city and shall be paid out of the funds 
appropriated for the support of the police de- 
partment. These officers and men shall con- 
stitute the park police so long as their detail 
lasts, and shall report to the park commis- 
sioner in charge of the parks in which they 
serve. Each commissioner of parks may re- 
port back to the police department for pun- 
ishment any member of said park police force 
guilty of any breach of orders or discipline, 
or of neglecting his duty, and thereupon the 
police commissioner may detail another of- 
ficer or man in his place; and the discipline 
of the said members of the park police shall 
be in the jurisidictlon of the police depart- 
ment, but at any time either commissioner 
of parks may object to the Inefficiency of any 
member of said park police serving In any 
park under his charge and thereupon another 

officer or man may be detailed in his place. 

• 

Id.; detail of officers and men to assist 

the department of bridges. 

Sec. 314. The police commissioner, upon the 
requisition of the commissioner of bridges 
shall from time to time detail to the service 
of the department of bridges for the enforce- 
ment of the ordinances regulating travel over 
any of the bridges and for the maintenance 
of good order thereon, so many suitable of- 
ficers and men as in the judgment of the 
police commissioner are necessary. Such of- 
ficers and men shall continue to be in all re- 
spects an integral part of the police force of 
the city and shall be paid out of the funds ap- 
propriated for the support of the police de- 
partment. These officers and men shall con- 
stitute the bridge police so long as their de- 
tail lasts, and shall report to the commission- 
er of bridges. The commissioner of bridges 
may report back to the police commissioner 
for punishment any member of said bridge 
police force guilty of any breach of orders or 
discipline, or of neglecting his duty, and 
thereupon the police commissioner may detail 
another officer or man in his place; and th# 


38 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


discipline of the said members of the bridge 
police shall be In the jurisdiction of the po- 
lice department, but at any time the com- 
missioner of bridges may object to the inef- 
ficiency of any member of said bridge police 
and thereupon another officer or man may be 
detailed in his place. 

Id.; duties of. 

Sec. 315. It is hereby made the duty of the 
police department and force; at all times of 
day and night, and the members of such 
force are hereby thereunto empowered, to 
especially preserve the public peace, prevent 
crime, detect and arrest offenders, suppress 
riots, mobs and insurrections, disperse un- 
lawful or dangerous assemblages, and assem- 
blages which obstruct the free passage of 
public streets, sidewalks, parks and places; 
protect the rights of persons and property, 
guard the public health, preserve order at 
elections and all public meetings and assem- 
blages; regulate the movement of teams and 
vehicles in streets, bridges, squares, parks 
and public places, and remove all nuisances 
in the public streets, parks and highways; 
arrest all street mendicants and beggars; 
provide proper police attendance at fires; 
assist, advise, and protect emigrants, stran- 
gers and travelers in public streets, at steam- 
boat and ship landings, and at railroad sta- 
tions; carefully observe and Inspect all 
places of public amusement, all places of 
business having excise or other licenses to 
carry on any business; all houses of 111-fame 
or prostitution, and houses where common 
prostitutes resort or reside; all lottery offices, 
policy shops, and places where lottery tickets 
or lottery policies are sold or offered for 
sale; all gambling-houses, cock-pits, rat-pits, 
and public common dance-houses, and to re- 
press and restrain all unlawful and disorder- 
ly conduct or practices therein; enforce and 
prevent the violation of all laws and ordi- 
nances in force in said city; and for these 
purposes to arrest all persons guilty of vio- 
lating any law or ordinance for the suppres- 
sion or punishment of crimes or offenses. 

Id.; general power) over certain-- 

trades. 

Sec. 316. The police commissioner and each 
of his deputies and each deputy chief of 
police, and each inspector in his district, 
and each captain of police within his pre- 
cinct shall possess powers of general police 
supervision and inspection over all licensed 
cr unlicensed pawnbrokers, venders, junk- 
shop keepers. Junk-boatmen, cartmen, deal- 
ers la second-hand merchandise, intelligence- 
office keepers, and auctioneers, • within the 
said city; and in the exercise of said super- 
vision, may from time to time empower mem- 
bers of the police force to fulfill such spe- 
cial duties in the aforesaid premises as 
may be from time to time ordained by the 
police board. The said police commissioner 
and each of his deputies and each deputy 
chief of police, and each inspector in his 
district and each captain within his pre- 
cinct, may, by authority in writing, em- 
power any member of the police force, when- 
ever such member shall be in search of 
property feloniously obtained, or in search 
of suspected offenders, or evidence to 
convict any person charged with crime, 
to examine the books of any pawn- 
broker, or his business premises, or the 
business premises of any licensed ven- 
der, or licensed junk-shop keeper, or dealer 
in second-hand merchandise, or intelligence- 
office keeper, or auctioneer, or boat of any 
junk boatman, and to examine property al- 
leged to be pawned, pledged, deposited, lost 
or stolen, in whosesoever possession said 
property may be: but no eurh property shall 


be taken from the possessor thereof without 
due process or authority of law. 

Id.; may examine pawnbrokers’ books. 

Sec. 317. The police commissioner, each of 
his deputies, the inspectors of police and cap- 
tains of police and persons acting by their, 
or by either of their orders, shall have power 
to examine the books of any pawnbroker, his 
clerk or clerks, if they deem It necessary, 
when in search of stolen property, and any 
person having in his possession a pawnbrok- 
er’s ticket shall, when accompanied by a po- 
liceman, or by an order from the police com- 
missioner or either of his deputies, or an 
inspector of police, or a captain of police, be 
allowed to examine the property purporting 
to be pawned by said ticket; but no property 
shall be removed from the possession of any 
/pawnbroker without the process of law re- 
quired by the existing laws of this state, or 
the laws and ordinances of the city regulat- 
ing pawnbrokers. A refusal or neglect to 
comply in any respect with the provisions of 
this section, on the part of any pawnbroker, 
his clerk or clerks, shall be deemed a misde- 
meanor and punishable as such. 

Id.; suppression of saining and other 

bouses. 

6ec. 318. If any two or more householders 
shall report in writing, under their signature, 
to the police commissioner or to a deputy 
police commissioner, that there are good 
grounds (and stating the same) for believing 
any house, room or premises within the said 
city to be kept or used as a common gambling 
house, common gaming room, or common 
gaming premises, for therein playing for 
wagers of money at any game of chance, or 
to be kept or used for lewd and obscene pur- 
poses or amusements, or the deposit or sale 
of lottery tickets or lottery policies, it shall 
be lawful for the police commissioner or 
either of his deputies or a deputy chief of 
police to authorize, in writing, any member 
or members of the police force to enter the 
same, who may forthwith arrest all persons 
there found offending against law, but none 
others; and seize all implements of gaming, 
or lottery tickets or lottery policies, and con- 
vey any person so arrested before a magis- 
trate, and bring the articles so seized to the 
office of the property clerk. It shall be the 
duty of the caid police commissioner or 
deputy police commissioner or deputy chief 
of police to cause such arrested person to be 
rigorously prosecuted, and such articles 
seized to be destroyed, as the orders, rules 
and regulations of the polico commissioner 
shall direct. 

Police commissioner; to furnish sta- 
tion houses, etc., and fix boundaries 

of precincts; headquarters. 

Sec. 320. The police commissioner shall 
from time to time, with the authority of the 
commissioners of the sinking fund, establish, 
provide and furnish stations and station 
houses, or sub-stations and sub-station 
houses, at least one to each precinct, for the 
accommodation thereat of members of the 
police force, and as places of temporary de- 
tention for persons arrested and property 
taken within the precinct; and shall also 
provide and furnish such business accommo- 
dations. apparatus and articles, and provide 
for the care thereof, as shall be necessary 
for the department of police and the trans- 
action of the business of the department. The 
said police commissioner is hereby authorized 
and empowered to furnish horses and wag- 
ons, to be known as patrol wagons, which 
said horses and wagons shall be under the 
custody, control ard enro rf police <h 


partment, for the exclusive use thereof. The 
board of estimate and apportionment and the 
board of aldermen are directed to appropri- 
ate a sufficient sum money in each and 
every year, for the purpose of furnishing 
such horses, wagons and apparatus connect- 
ed therewith, and the maintenance thereof, 
and for the other purposes authorized by this 
section. The number and boundaries of the 
precincts shall be fixed by the police commis- 
sioner. There may be one headquarters or 
'central station, established and located by 
said police commissioner in any borough into 
which The City of New York Is divided by 
this act. The said police commissioner shall 
apply to and use for the purposes mentioned 
in this section, the property and premises 
which shall come into his possession, or un- 
der his control, by virtue of section two hun- 
dred and seventy-five of this act, so far as 
suitable for the purpose in his Judgment, and 
available therefor. 

Id.; to provide accommodations for 
detention of witnesses. 

Bee. 821. The police commissioner shall, 
where not otherwise provided by law, and as 
authorized by the board aldermen, provide 
suitable accommodations and supplies for the 
detention of witnesses who are unable to fur- 
nish security for their appearance in crimi- 
nal proceedings, other than children actual- 
ly or apparently under the age of sixteen 
years, to be called the house for the deten- 
tion of witnesses; and such accommoda- 
tion shall be in premises other than those 
employed for the confinement of persons 
charged with crime, fraud or disorderly con- 
duct. And it shall be the duty of all magis- 
trates, when committing witnesses in de- 
fault of hail, to commit them to such house 
for detention of witnesses. The board of 
estimate and apportionment and the board 
of aldermen shall In each and every year 
appropriate a sufficient sum of money to 
defray the expenses authorized by this sec- 
tion. And said police commissioner shall ap- 
ply to and use for such purposes the prop- 
erty and premises which shall come into his 
possession or under his control by section 
two hundred and seventy-five of this act, 
so far as the same may be available,, and, in 
his Judgment, suitable therefor. 

I«l.; may maintain and operate tele- 
grupli and telephone lines, and use 
name in assisting; department of 
health. 

Sec. 323. The police commissioner shall 
have power to erect, operate, supply and 
maintain, under the general laws of the state 
relating to telegraphs, all such lines of tele- 
graph and telephone to and between such 
places in the city as for the purposes and 
business of the police the commissioner shall 
deem necessary. The police commissioner 
may procure all instruments, fixtures, prop- 
erty and materials for the purpose above 
mentioned, and control the same, but the 
cost thereof shall be chargeable to general 
expenses of police. The police commissioner 
is hereby permitted to use the said tele- 
graph and telephone lines to aid him in 
facilitating the operations of the department 
of health, and when so used, the expense 
thereof shall be charged to the said depart- 
ment of health. 

Id.; may use boats; establish mounted 
patrol, sell old property, etc. 

Sec. 324. In the performance of police serv- 
ice in any precinct or precincts, comprising 
waters of the harbor, the police commis- 
sioner may procure and use and employ 

••■/.I, rowb ats. steamboat', nnl b st< p-o- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 


39 


pelled by other power as shall be deemed 
necessary and proper. In rural or sparsely 
Inhabited precincts he may establish a 
mounted patrol and procure and use and 
employ so many horses and equipments as 
shall be requisite for the purpose; and he 
shall procure and cause to be used teams 
and vehicles to transport prisoners, supplies 
and property, whenever the use of teams 
and vehicles for such purposes shall be 
proper and tend to preserve the public peace 
and decency. The police commissioner may 
sell and dispose of, in accordance with law, 
any personal property owned or used in the 
department, whenever such property shall 
have become, old and unfit and shall not be 
required for service, and he shall have au- 
thority to detail and employ patrolmen in 
any duty or service, other than patrol duty, 
which may be necessary and proper to enable 
the department to exercise the powers and 
perform the duties and business imposed and 
required by law. 

Stolen property! property clerk; em- 
ployment of anil duties. 

Sec. 331. The police commissioner shall em- 
ploy some person as clerk, who shall be desig- 
nated property clerk, to take charge of all 
property alleged to be stolen or embezzled, 
and which may be brought into the police 
office, and all property taken from the per- 
son of a prisoner, and all property or money 
alleged or supposed to have been feloniously 
obtained, or which shall be lost or abandoned, 
and which shall be taken into the custody of 
any member of the police force or criminal 
court in The City of New York, or which 
shall come into the custody of any magistrate 
or officer, shall be, by such member or magis- 
trate, or by order of said court, given into 
the custody of and kept by the said property 
clerk. All such property and money shall 
be described and registered by said property 
clerk in a book kept for that purpose, which 
shall contain the name of the owner or claim- 
ant if ascertained, the place where found, 
the name of the person from whom taken, 
with the general circumstances, the date of 
its receipt, the name of the officer recovering 
the same, a description thereof, the names 
of all claimants thereto, and any final dis- 
position of such property or money. The 
said police commissioner may prescribe reg- 
ulations in regard to the duties of the clerk 
so designated, and require and take security 
for the faithful performance of the duties 
imposed by this section, but all animals 
strayed, lost or stolen, which shall come into 
the possession of the said property clerk shall 
by him be transferred and sent to the public 
pound, in said city, anything herein con- 
tained to the contrary notwithstanding. 

Id.! return of property to person ac- 
cused. 

Sec. 332. Whenever property or money 
taken from any person arrested shall be al- 
leged to have been feloniously obtained, or 
to be the proceeds of crime, and brought, 
with all ascertained claimants thereof, and 
the person arrested, before some magistrate 
for adjudication, and the magistrate shall be 
then and there satisfied from evidence that 
the person arrested is innocent of the offense 
alleged, and that the property rightfully be- 
longs to him, then said magistrate may there- 
upon, in writing, order such property or 
money to be returned, and the property clerk, 
if he have it, to deliver such property or 
money to the accused person himself, and 
not to any attorney, agent, or clerk of said 
accused person. 

Id. I claim to by another person. 

Sec. 233. If any claim to the ownership of 

such pr pert? hr r r n 7 Uin'l be nislo m 


oath before the magistrate, by or in behalf 
of any other persons than the person arrest- 
ed, and the said accused\person shall be held 
for trial or examination, such property or 
money shall remain in the o-ustody of the 
property clerk until the discharge or con- 
viction of the person accused and until law- 
fully disposed of. 

Unclaimed, lost, stolen, etc., property, 

to be registered and advertised. 

Sec. 334. All property or money taken on 
suspicion of having been feloniously ob- 
tained, or of being the proceeds of crime, 
and for which there is no other claimant 
than the person from whom such property 
was taken, and all lost property coming into 
the possession of any member of the said 
police force, and all property and money 
taken from pawnbrokers as the proceeds of 
crime, or by any such member from persons 
supposed to be insane, intoxicated or other- 
wise incapable of taking care of themselves, 
shall be transmitted, as soon as practicable, 
to the property clerk, to be registered and 
advertised in the City Record for the benefit 
of all persons Interested, and for the informa- 
tion of the public, as to the amount and dis- 
position of the property so taken Into custody 
by the police. 

Id. i to be sold if unclaimed. 

Sec. 335. If the property stolen or embez- 
zled be not claimed by the owner before the 
expiration of six months from the conviction 
of a person for stealing or embezzling it, 
the officer having it in his custody must, on 
payment of the necessary expenses incurred 
in Its preservation, deliver the same to the 
property clerk. The property so delivered to 
said property clerk, and all such other prop- 
erty, securities, moneys, things, or choses 
in action, that shall remain in the custody 
of the property clerk for the period of six 
months without any lawful claimant thereto, 
after having been advertised in the City 
Record for the period of ten days, may be 
sold at public auction in a suitable room to 
be designated for such purpose, and the 
proceeds of such sale shall be paid into the 
police pension fund. No property shall be 
delivered to the property clerk or at the cen- 
tral office of the police department, except 
as provided by law. 

Stolen property desired ns evidence in 

criminal court. 

Sec. 336. If any property or money placed 
in the custody of the property clerk shall be 
desired as evidence in any police or other 
criminal court, such property shall be de- 
livered to any officer who shall present an 
order to that effect from such court. Such 
property, however, shall not be retained in 
said court, but shall be returned to such 
property clerk to be disposed of according 
to the previous provisions of this chapter. 

Police forces arrests without warrant. 

Sec. 337. The several members of the po- 
lice force shall have power and authority to 
immediately arrest, without warrant, and 
to take into custody, any person who shall 
commit, or threaten, or attempt to commit, 
in the presence of such member, or witnin 
his view, any breach of the peace or offense 
directly prohibited by act of the legislature, 
or by any ordinance made by lawful authority. 
The members of the police force shall pos- 
sess in The City of New York and in every 
part of this state, all the common law and 
statutory powers of constables, except for 
the service of civil process, and any war- 
rc,i,t f r "f.vfh cr nrroot. Issued hr ??.” 


magistrate of this state, may be exesuted, 
in any part thereof, “"by any member of fhe 
police force, and atl the provisions of sections 
seven, eight and nine of chapter two, title 
two, part four of the revised statutes, in 
relation to the giving and taking of bail, 
shall apply to this chapter. 

id. I returns of arrest#! accused to be 

taken before magistrate. 

Sec. 338. In every case of aTrest by any 
member of the police force, the same shall 
be made Known immediately to the superior 
on duty in the precinct wherein the arrest 
was made, by the person making the same; 
and it shall be the duty of the said superior, 
within twenty-four hours after such notice, 
to make written return thereof; according to 
the rules and regulations of the police de- 
partment, with the name of the party arrest- 
ed, the alleged offense, the time and place of 
arrest, and the place of detention. Each 
member of the police force, under the penalty 
of ten days’ fine, or dismissal from the force, 
at the discretion of the police commissioner 
shall, immediately upon an arrest, convey in 
person the offender before the nearest sitting 
magistrate, that he may be dealt with ac- 
cording to law. If the arrest is made dur- 
ing the hours that the magistrate does not 
regularly hold couTt, or if the magistrate is 
not holding court, such offender may be de- 
tained in a precinct or station house there- 
of, until the next regular public sitting of 
the magistrate, and no longer, and shall then 
be conveyed without delay before the magis- 
trate, to be dealt with according to law. 
And it shall be the duty of the said police 
commissioner, from time to time, to provide 
suitable rules and regulations to prevent the 
undue detention of persons arrested, which 
rules and regulations shall be as operative 
and binding as if herein specially enacted, 
subject, how'ever, to the order of the court 
committing the person arrested. 

Penalty for personating; policeman, 

and for willful neglect of police. 

Sec. 339. It shall be a misdemeanor punish- 
able by imprisonment in the penitentiary 
for not less than one year, nor exceeding two 
years, or by a fine of not less than two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars, or the forfeiture of 
his position, for any member of the police 
force to wilfully neglect to make any arrest 
for an offense against the law of the state, or 
any orotnance in force in The City of New 
York, and it shall be a misdemeanor, punish- 
able in like manner, for any person not a 
meifiber of the police force to falsely repre- 
sent himself as being such a member, with a 
fraudulent design upon persons or property, 
or upon any day or time to have, use, wear 
or display, without specific authority from 
the police department! any uniform, shield, 
buttons, wreaths, numbers or other insignia 
or emblems in any wise resembling such as 
are worn by members of the police force; 
and the said police department is hereby au* 
thorized and directed, from time to time, to 
prescribe the uniforms, shields, emblems, in- 
signia and weapons to be worn, displayed 
and used, and to regulate the wearing, dis- 
play and use thereof, by any and all persons, 
excepting marshals and the sheriff, his under 
sheriff and deputies authorized under 
the laws of this state, to make arrests for 
any cause in The City of New York. 

Misdemeanor for persons not members 

of police force to serve criminal 

process. 

Sec. 340. It shall be a misdemeanor for 
any person not being a regular member of 

the poller ra*-rbl!r.h.rd in any city of this 


40 


THE CHARTER OP THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 


state, or a member of the police force of The 
City of New York, or a constable of this 
state, or a police constable, or assistant 
police constable, or United States marshal, 
or other peace officer of this state, or a 
sheriff, or one of the usual general deputies 
of any sheriff of this state, to serve any 
criminal process within the said city. 

Exemption from military and jury du- 
ty. and civil process. 

Sec. 341. No person holding office under 
this department shall be liable to military 
or jury duty, and no officer or patrolman 
while actually on duty shall be liable to ar- 
rest on civil process, or to service of sub- 
poena from civil courts. 

Steam boilers; inspection of; not to be 

operuted without certificate. 

Sec. 342. Every owner, agent or lessee of 
a steam boiler or boilers in use in The City 
of New York shall annually, and at such 
convenient times and in such manner and 
in such form as may, by rules and regula- 
tions to be made therefor by the police com- 
missioner be provided, report to the said 
department the location of each steam boiler 
or boilers, and thereupon, and as soon there- 
after as practicable, the sanitary company 
or such member or members thereof 
as may be competent for the duty 

herein described, and may be detailed 
for such duty by the police commis- 
sioner shall proceed to inspect such steam 
boilers, and all apparatus and appliances 
connected therewith; but no person shall be 
detailed for such duty except he be a prac- 
tical engineer, and the strength and security 
of each boiler shall be tested by atmospheric 
and hydrostatic pressure and the strength 
and security of each boiler or boilers so 
tested shall have, under the control of said 
sanitary company, such attachments, ap- 
paratus and appliances as may be necessary 
for the limitation of pressure, locked and 
secured in like manner as may be from time 
to time adopted by the United States inspec- 
tors of steam boilers or the secretary of the 
treasury, according to act of congress, passed 
July twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty- 
six; and they shall llmitthe pressure of steam 
to be applied to or upon such boiler, certify- 
ing each inspection and such limit of press- 
ure to the owner of the boiler Inspected, and 
also to the engineer in charge of same, and 
no greater amount of steam or pressure than 
that certified in the case of any boiler shall 
be applied thereto. In limiting the amount 
of pressure, wherever the boiler under test 
will bear the same, the limit desired by the 
owner of the boiler shall be the one certified. 
Every owner, agent or lessee of a steam 
boiler or boilers in use in The City of New 
York shall, for the Inspection and testing of 
such or each of such boilers, as provided for 
In this act, and upon receiving from the 
police department a certificate setting forth 
the location of the boiler inspected, the 
date of such inspection, the persons by 
Whom the inspection was made, and the limit 
of steam pressure which shall be applied to or 
upon such boiler, or each of such boilers, pay 
annually.to the police commissioner for each 
tfoiler, for the use of the police pension fund, 
the sum of two dollars, such certificate to 
continue in force for one year from the grant- 
ing thereof when it shall expire, unless sooner 
revoked or suspended. Such certificate may 
be renewed upon the payment of a like sum 
and like conditions, to be applied to a like 
purpose. It shall not be lawful for any per- 
son or persons, corporation or corporations, 
to have used or operated within The City of 
York oilv aiaam hollar or hoilers except 


for heating purposes and for railway loco- 
motives, without having first had such boiler 
or boilers inspected or tested and procured 
for such boiler or each of such boilers so 
used or operated the certificate herein pro- 
vided for. The superintendent and inspectors 
of boilers, in the employ of the police depart- 
ment, in the city of Brooklyn, and the boiler 
inspectors in Long Island City, shall continue 
to discharge the duties heretofore devolved 
upon them, subject, however, to removal for 
cause, or When they are no longer needed. 

Id.; no person to use, or act as en- 
gineer for, without certificate. 

Sec. 343. It shall not be lawful for any per- 
son or persons to operate or use any steam 
boiler to generate steam except for railway 
locomotive engines, and for heating purposes 
in private dwellings, and boilers carrying not 
over ten pounds of steam and not over ten 
horse-power, or to act as engineer for such 
purposes in The City of New York without 
having a certificate of qualification therefor 
fiom practical engineers detailed as such by 
the police department, such certificate to be 
countersigned by the officer in command of 
the sanitary company of the police depart- 
ment of The City of New York and to con- 
tinue in force one year, unless sooner re- 
voked or suspended. Such certificate may be 
revoked or suspended at any time by the 
police commissioner upon the report of any 
two practical engineers, detailed as provided 
in this section, stating the grounds upon 
which such certificate should be revoked or 
suspended. Where such certificate shall have 
been revoked, as provided in this section, a 
like certificate shall not in any case be issued 
to the same person within six months from 
the date of the revocation of the former cer- 
tificate held by such person. 

Id. ; record of Inspections to be kept. 

Sec. 344. A correct record in proper form 
shall be kept and preserved of all inspections 
of steam boilers made under the direction of 
the police board, and of the amount of steam 
or pressure allowed In each case, and In cases 
where any steam boiler or the apparatus or 
appliances connected therewith shall be 
deemed by the department, after inspection, 
to be insecure or dangerous, the department 
may prescribe such changes and alterations 
as may render such boilers, apparatus and 
appliances secure and devoid of danger. And 
In the mean time, and until such changes and 
alterations are made and such appliances at- 
tached, such boiler, apparatus and appliances 
may be taken under the control of the police 
department and all persons prevented from 
using the same, and in cases deemed neces- 
sary, the appliances, apparatus or attachment 
for the limitation of pressure may be taken 

under the control of the said police depart- 
ment. 

Id.; over-pressure forbidden; owner 
neglecting to report boiler. 

Sec. 345. It shall not be lawful for any per- 
son or persons to apply or cause to be ap- 
plied to any steam boiler a higher pressure 
of steam than that limited for the same in 
accordance with the provisions of this chap- 
ter and any person violating the provisions 
of the last preceding section shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor. In case any owner of any 
steam boiler in the said city shall fail or 
omit to have the same reported for inspec- 
tion, as provided by law, such boiler may be 
taken under the control of the police de- 
partment and all persons prevented from 
using the same until it can be satisfactori- 
ly tested, as hereinbefore provided for, and 
the owner shall, in such case, be charged 
with the expense of so testing it. 


Special patrolmen for district tele- 
graph companies). 

Sec. 350. The police commissioner Is here- 
by authorized, in addition to the police force 
now authorized by law, to appoint a number 
of persons, not exceeding three hundred, who 
may be designated by any company which 
may be operating a system of signaling by 
telegraph to a central office for police as- 
sistance, to act as special patrolmen in con- 
nection with such telegraphic system. And 
the persons so appointed shall, in and about 
such service, have all the powers possessed 
by the members of the regular force, except 
as this may be limited by the regulations of 
the police commissioner, and they shall be 
subject to the supervision and control of the 
police department. No person shall be ap- 
pointed as such special patrolman who does 
not possess the qualifications which may be 
required by the police commissioner for such 
special service; and the persons so appointed 
shall be subject, in case of emergency, to do 
duty as a part of the regular police force. 
The police commissioner shall have power to 
revoke any such appointment or appointments 
at any time, and every person so appointed 
shall wear a badge and uniform, to be fur- 
nished by such company and approved by the 
police department. Such • uniform shall be 
designated at the time of the first appoint- 
ment. under this section, and shall be the 
permanent uniform to be worn by said spe- 
cial police. The pay of such special patrol- 
men and all expenses connected with their 
service Bhall be wholly paid by such com- 
pany or companies, and no expense or lia- 
bility shall at any time be incurred or paid 
by the police department for, or by reason 
of, the services of the persons so as afore- 
said appointed. 

Police pension fund; police commis- 
sioner trustee of; powers over. 

Sec. 351. The police commissioner shall 
be the trustee of the police pension fund 
hereinafter mentioned, and shall be treas- 
urer of the pension fund. He shall, before 
entering upon his duties as treasurer there- 
of, execute and deliver to the comptroller of 
The City of New York a bond in the penal 
sum of one hundred thousand dollars, to be 
approved by the comptroller of The City of 
New York, and conditioned for the faithful 
discharge of his duties, and that he shall 
pay over and account for all moneys and 
property which shall come into the hands of 
such treasurer. Such trustee shall have 
charge of and administer said funds, and 
from time to time invest the same, or any 
part thereof, as he shall deem most bene- 
ficial to said fund, and he is empowered to 
make all necessary contracts and take all 
necessary and proper actions and proceed- 
ings in the premises, and to make payments 
from such fund of pensions granted in pur- 
suance of this act, and also pensions now 
charged on said fund or any part thereof by 
or under existing laws, and said trustee 
shall be the legal successor of the trustee or 
trustees of the police life insurance fund, 
and of any police pension fund heretofore 
existing within the limits of The City of 
New York as constituted by this act, includ- 
ing the pension fund of the park police, of 
the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of 
the city of New York, and the pension fund 
of the park police of the city of Brooklyn. 
The said trustee may, and he is authorized 
and empowered, from time to time to es- 
tablish such rules and regulations for the 
disposition, investment, preservation and ad- 
ministration of the police pension fund as he 
may deem best. He shall report in detail 
to the board of aldermen of the City of New 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


41 


York, annually, In the month of January, 
the condition of the police pension fund and 
the items of receipts and disbursements on 
account of the same. No payments what- 
ever shall be allowed or made by said trustee 
from said fund as reward, gratuity or com- 
pensation to any person for salary or services 
rendered to or for said trustee. On or before 
the first day of February of each year, the 
trustee shall make a verified report to the 
mayor of his proceedings as such trustee, 
containing a statement of all receipts and 
disbursements on account of said fund, to- 
gether with the names and residences of 
each beneficiary and the amounts paid to such 
beneficiary for or on account of said fund. 
There shall be an auditing committee con- 
sisting of three members, to be appointed 
by the mayor, as follows: two members to 
be selected from among the officers and 
members of the uniformed force of the 
police department and one member 
to be selected from the retired 
members of the police- department. 
It shall be the duty of this committee 
on or before the first day of March in each 
year to examine the condition of said relief 
fund and to audit the account of the said 
trustee. 

Id. | funds to be paid trustees; exemp- 
tion from execution and process; 

false swearing; In pension claims. 

Sec. 352. The said police pension funds ex- 
isting In said city of New York as consti- 
tuted by this act, or in any part thereof when 
this act takes effect, and all moneys, bonds, 
Investments, securities, revenues and in- 
comes thereof, or belonging thereto, in whose 
bands soever or wherever the same may be, 
shall be paid over and delivered on demand 
to the police commissioner. The moneys, se- 
curities and effects of the police pension 
fund, and all pensions granted and payable 
from said fund shall be and are exempt from 
execution and from all process and proceed- 
ings to enjoin and recover the same by or on 
behalf of any creditor or person having or 
asserting any claims against, or debt or lia- 
bility of, any pensioner of said fund. Every 
person who knowingly or wilfully in any 
wise procures the making or presentation of 
any false or fraudulent affidavit or affirma- 
tion concerning any claim for pension or pay- 
ment thereof shall in every such case forfeit a 
Bum not exceeding two hundred and fifty dol- 
lars, to be sued for and recovered by and in 
the name of the said trustees, and, when re- 
covered, to be paid over to and thereupon be- 
come a part of the said police pension fund. 
Any person who shall wilfully swear falsely 
In any oath or affirmation in obtaining or pro- 
curing any pension or payment thereof, un- 
der the provisions of this chapter, shall be 
guilty of perjury. 

Id.| of wbat la consists. 

Sec. 353. The said police pension fund shall 
consist of: 

1. The capital, interest, income, dividends, 
cash, deposits, securities and credits former- 
ly belonging to the police life insurance fund, 
and any police pension fund, existing as 
aforesaid with the addition thereto, from 
time to time, of 

2. All forfeitures imposed by the police 
department from time to time, upon or 
against any member or members of the po- 
lice force; and of 

3. All rewards, fees, gifts, testimonials and 
emoluments that may be presented, paid or 
given to any member of the police force on 
account of police services, except such as 
have been or shall be allowed by the police 
commissioner to be retained by the said 


members, and also all gifts or bequests which 
may be made to the said pension fund, or to 
the said polio© commissioner as trustee 
thereof. 

4. All lost, abandoned, unclaimed, or stolen 
money remaining in the possession of the 
property clerk of the police department for 
the space of one year, and for which there 
shall be no lawful claimant, and all moneys 
arising from the sale by said property clerk 
of unclaimed, abandoned, lost or stolen prop- 
erty, and all moneys realized, derived or re- 
ceived from the sale of any condemned, un- 
fit or unserviceable property belonging to or 
in the possession or under the control of the 
police department; and of 

5. All moneys, pay, compensation or sal- 
ary, or any part thereof forfeited, deducted 
or withheld from any member or members 
of the police force on account of absence for 
any cause, lost time, sickness or other disa- 
bility, physical or mental, to be paid monthly 
by the comptroller to the police pension fund. 

6. Any sum out of or share of excise moneys 
derived from the granting of licenses or per- 
mission to sell strong or spirituous liquors, 
ale, wine or beer, or out of or of any moneys 
paid for taxes upon the business of traffick- 
ing in or selling or dealing in strong or spirit- 
uous liquors, ale, wine or beer, which by law 
was, at the time of the taking effect of this 
act, applicable to or appropriated to any police 
pension fund then existing within the limits 
of The City of New York, as constituted by 
this act, and such sum or share shall be paid 
in equal quarterly installments by the comp- 
troller of The City of New York, or other per- 
son or officer having the legal custody there- 
of, to the police commissioner without any 
action or authority of or from any other offi- 
cial body or officer. 

7. All moneys received or derived from 
the granting or issuing of permits to carry 
pistols in said city, and no permit shall be 
granted or issued to any person except upon 
the payment of two dollars and fifty cents in 
advance to the police commissioner, nor shall 
any such permit continue in force for more 
than one year, when another may be Issued 
from year to year, upon the payment of a like 
sum. The chief of police is authorized to 
grant and issue permits for such purpose in 
proper cases, upon the payment of the sum 
aforesaid, and all such moneys shall be paid 
into the police pension fund. 

8. A'.l moneys derived or received from the 
granting or issuing the permits, or the giving 
of permission to give masked balls, enter- 
tainments or parties, or either of them, in 
The City of New York. No masquerade or 
fancy dress ball, or other entertainment, shall 
be held, given or permitted in The City of 
New York, except upon condition that a 
license fee therefor of not less than five dol- 
lars nor more than one hundred dollars shall 
first be paid to the police department who 
are authorized to demand and receive the 
same for the benefit of the police pension 
fund. 

9. A sum of money equal to but not greater 
than two per centum of the monthly pay, sal- 
ary or compensation of each member of the 
police force, which sum shall be deducted 
monthly by the comptroller from the pay, 
salary, or compensation of each and every 
member of the police force and the said 
comptroller is hereby authorized, empowered 
and directed to deduct the said sum of money 
as aforesaid and forthwith to pay the same 
to the treasurer of the trustees of the police 
pension fund. 

10. Any and all other moneys and funds 
which, but for the passage of this act, would 
have been part of or applicable to any police 
pension fund at the time this act takes effect 


or thereafter within the limits of The City 
of New York as constituted by this act. 

11 . And any and all unexpended balances 
of appropriation or amounts estimated, levied, 
raised or appropriated for the payment of 
salaries or compensation of members of the 
police force within said city of New York re- 
maining unexpended or unapplied after al- 
lowing all claims payable therefrom. And 
the comptroller is hereby authorized to 
pay over to the police pension fund such 
unexpended balances or any part thereof, at 
any time after the expiration of the year for 
which the same were made and appropriated, 
and after allowing sufficient to satisfy all 
claims payable therefrom as aforesaid. 

12. In case the amount derived from the 
different sources mentioned and included In 
this section shall not be sufficient at any 
time to enable the police commissioner to 
pay in full the pensions which have been or 
which may hereafter be granted, it shall be 
the duty of the police commissioner each 
year at the time of making up the depart- 
mental estimate, to prepare a full and de- 
tailed statement of the assets of said police 
pension fund and the amount which is re- 
quired to pay- in full all such pensions and 
to present the same to the board of estimate 
and apportionment, together with a statement 
of the amount of money required to enable 
the said commissioner to pay the said pen- 
sions In full. It shall be the duty of said 
board of estimate and apportionment and the 
board of aldermen to make an appropriation 
sufficient to provide for such deficiency and 
the amount so appropriated shall be included 
in the tax levy, and the comptroller shall pay 
over the money to the police commissioner. 

13. And the said police commissioner is 
hereby authorized and empowered to take 
and hold, as trustee of such fund, any and all 
gifts or bequests which may be made to such 
fund. — As amended by Laws of 1903, Chap- 
ter' 437. Changing subdiv. 11. 

Id.; pensions classified. 

Sec. 354. The police commissioner shall 
have power, in his discretion, to' retire and 
dismiss from membership in the said police 
force, and thereupon to grant pensions to, 
as hereinafter provided, any member of *he 
police force of said city who shall have be- 
come disabled, physically or mentally, or su- 
perannuated by age so as to be unfit for police 
duty, and to widows and orphans of such 
members to be paid from the police pension 
fund as follows: 

1. To the widow of any member of any 
police force within the limits of said city, 
who shall have been killed while in the ao-« 
ual performance' of duty, or shall have dien 
from the effects of any injury received whilst 
in the actual discharge of such duty, or who 
has died, or who shall hereafter die after 
ten years of service in any police force with- 
in the limits of The City of New York, as 
constituted by this act, or who shall have 
been retired upon a pension, if there be no 
child or children under eighteen years of age 
of any such member, the sum of not exceed- 
ing three hundred dollars per annum; but If 
there be any such child or children of such 
member under the age aforesaid, then the 
said sum may be divided between such widow, 
child or children in such proportions and in 
such manner as the said trustee may direct; 
provided, however, that the foregoing provi- 
sion shall not be applicable to the widow, 
child or children of any member of any police 
force within the limits of said city who shall 
have been killed or died prior to the taking 
effect of this act, unless such widow, child 
or children would have been entitled to a pen- 
sion under the laws in force at that time; and 
provided further that in no went shall »uch 


42 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


widow, child or children receive a greater 
pension than she, it or they would have been 
entitled to under the laws in force immediate- 
ly prior to the taking etTect of this act. 

2. Subject to the like limitations, to any 
child or children under eighteen years of age 
of such member killed or dying as aforesaid 
or pensioner as aforesaid, but leaving no 
widow, or, if a widow, then after her death to 
such child or Children being yet under eigh- 
teen years of age, a sum not exceeding three 
hundred dollars per annum. 

3. Subject to the like limitations, to any 
such member of any such police force who, 
whilst in the actual performance of duty and 
by reason of the performance of such duty, 
and without fault or misconduct on his part, 
shall have become permanently disabled, 
physically or mentally so as to be unfitted 
to perform full police duty, a sum not to ex- 
ceed one-half nor less than one-fourth of his 
rate of compensation per annum. 

4. To any such member of the said police 
force who shall, after ten years, and less 
than twenty-five years’ membership In any 
such police force, become superannuated 
by age, permanently insane or ment- 
ally incapacitated, or disabled physi- 
cally or mentally, so as to be unfitted or 
unable to perform full police duty by reason 
of such disability or disease contracted with- 
out misconduct on his part, a sum not to 
exceed one-half nor less than one-fourth of 
his rate of compensation per annum. 

Id.; wlicn members of force entitled to 

pension; amount and duration. 

Sec. 355. Any member of the police force 
being of the age of fifty-five years who has 
or shall have performed duty on such police 
force as aforesaid for a period of twenty 
yean or upwards, upon his own application 
in writing, may, or upon a certificate of so 
many of the police surgeons as the police 
commissioner may require, showing a mem- 
ber of whatever age who has served twenty 
years is permanently disabled, physically or 
mentally so as to be unfit for duty, shall, 
by order of the police commissioner, be re- 
lieved and dismissed from said force and 
service and placed on the ro'll of the police 
pension fund, and awarded and granted, to 
be paid from said pension fund, an annual 
pension during his lifetime of a sum not less 
than one-half of the full salary or compensa- 
tion of such member so retired; and any 
member of the police force who has, or shall 
have performed duty on any such force afore- 
said, for a period of twenty-five years or 
upwards, being of the age of fifty-five years, 
or any member of any such police force who 
Is afi honorably discharged soldier or sailor 
from the army and navy of the United States 
in the late civil war, who shall have reached 
the age of sixty years, or any such soldier or 
sailor who has performed duty on any such 
force for a period of twenty years, upon his 
own application in writing, provided there 
are no charges against him pending, must 
be relieved and dismissed from said force and 
service by the department and placed on the 
roll of the police pension fund and awarded 
and granted, to be paid from said pension 
fund, an annual pension during his lifetime 
of the sum not less than one-half of the full 
salary or compensation of such member so 
retired; and the said commissioner may in 
like manner relieve and dismiss from the 
service and place on the roll of the police 
pension fund, and grant and award a pen- 
sion to any member of said force other than 
an honorably discharged soldier or sailor 
of the Mexican or late civil war who shall 
have reached the age of sixty years. The 
said police ecm.T.ix.iciiT absH award airl 


grant pensions to the chief of police of three 
thousand dollars; to each deputy chief of 
police, twenty-five hundred dollars; to each 
inspector seventeen hundred and fifty dollars; 
to each captain of the police, thirteen hun- 
dred and seventy-five dollars, and to each 
sergeant and detective sergeant of police 
hereafter relieved and dismissed from said 
force and service and placed on the roll 
of the pension fund, as hereinbefore provided, 
the sum of one thousand dollars per annum 
hereafter, and to each captain of police here- 
tofore relieved and dismissed frqm said force 
and placed on the roll of the police pension 
fund, as hereinbefore provided, who, at the 
time when he -was so relieved and dismissed 
and at the time when he was so placed on 
the roll of said pension fund, was receiving 
an annual salary of twenty-seven hundred 
and fifty dollars, the sum of thirteen hun- 
dred and seventy-five dollars per annum 
hereafter. Pensions granted under this sec- 
tion shall be for the natural life of the pen- 
sioner, and shall not be revoked, repealed 
or diminished. In case any member shall 
have voluntarily left any such police force, 
and entered into the United States service, 
and served In the war of the rebellion, in 
the army or navy, and received an honorable, 
discharge, and afterwards shall have been 
reinstated or reappointed In the police force, 
the time of his service In the army or navy 
shall be considered as continuous service in 
the police force. Pensions may, in the dis- 
cretion of the said police commissioner be 
continued and paid to the widows and chil- 
dren, or, if no widow', to the child or children 
while under the age of eighteen years of 
any member of the police force to whom 
pensions shall have been granted, provided, 
however, that such pension to such widows 
or children, as the case may he, shall, in no 
instance, exceed six hundred dollars per an- 
num, and the same may, in the discretion of 
the said commissioner, be, from time to 
time, and at any time diminished, modified or 
revoked; provided, however, that no mem- 
ber of either of the police forces by this 
act consolidated, having a right to retire 
upon a pension at the time this act takes 
effect, shall be deprived of such right by 
reason of his remaining upon the police 
force, or of anything in this act contained. 
In determining the terms of service of any 
member of the police force, service in the 
municipal and metropolitan force, and sub- 
sequently in the police force of The City of 
New York, as heretofore constituted, or in 
any police force within the limits of The 
City of New York as hereby constituted, 
and thereafter in the police force created by 
this act, shall be counted and held to be 
service in the police force of The City of 
New York for all the purposes of this chap- 
ter. 

Id.; when certain pensions terminate; 

equalizing- existing pensions. 

Sec. 356. Pensions to widows shall ter- 
minate when the widow shall re-marry, and 
pensions to children shall terminate whenever 
the children shall respectively marry or ar- 
rive at the age of eighteen years. The police 
commissioner may, in his discretion, order 
any pension granted, or any part thereof, to 
cease, or be diminished, except those pen- 
sions as to which it Is otherwise provided 
in this act, and as therein provided; hut in all 
such cases the said police commissioner 
shall file with the papers of the police pen- 
sion fund a written statement of the causes 
which determined him in ordering any 
pension so to cease or to be dimin- 
ished; r.nd tint’, Rng Irr .la, *r In 


any other act contained, shall render the 
granting of any pension obligatory on the 
police commissioner or chargeable as a mat- 
ter of right upon said police pension fund, 
except as herein provided. All existing pen- 
sions lawfully granted, payable out of the 
police life insurance fund, or any police pen- 
sion fund of which the police commissioner 
is made trustee by this chapter, and not law- 
fully revoked, are continued and shall be 
paid out of the police pension fund in pur- 
suance of the limitations and provisions of 
this chapter. 

Id.; certificate of disability; depart- 
ment may make rules. 

Sec. 357. No member of the police force 
shall be granted, awarded or paid a pension 
on account of physical or mental disability 
or disease, unless a certificate of so many 
of the police surgeons as the police board 
may require, which shall set forth the cause, 
nature and extent of the disability, disease 
or injury of such member, shall he filed in 
the department. And no member shall be 
retired upon pension or be pensioned, nor 
shall any pensfbn be awarded, granted or 
paid except as provided in this chapter, any 
other law to the contrary notwithstanding. 
The said police department is authorized and 
empowered to make and adopt all such rules, 
orders and regulations as are or may be 
necessary to carry out and enforce the pro- 
visions of this act as to pensions. Neither 
the police commissioner nor either deputy 
police commissioner shall be members of the 
police force within the meaning of the 
provisions of this act relating to pensions, 
nor be entitled to any pension, nor share in 
the relief pension fund of the police de- 
partment. 

Designation of station houses for con- 
finement of women. 

Sec. 359. The police commissioner shall 
designate one or more station houses for the 
detention and confinement of -women under 
arrest in The City of New York. Such com- 
missioner may at any time designate for 
such purposes any additional station house 
or houses, or may revoke the designation 
of any station house or houses theretofore 
designated, provided that at least one such 
station house shall at all times be so des- 
ignated for such purpose in such city. In 
every station house to which police matrons 
are appointed toilet accommodations shall 
be provided for such matrons, which ac- 
commodations shall be wholly separate and 
apart from the toilet accommodations pro- 
vided for prisoners, or for the other officers 
attached to such station house. 

Appointment of police matrons. 

Sec. 360. The police commissioner shall 
appoint for each station house designated 
in the last section, not more than two re- 
spectable women, who shall be known as po- 
lice matrons, in the same manner and under 
restrictions governing the appointment of 
patrolmen so far as the same may be ap- 
plicable, except that any rule or regulation 
as to the age ot a person appointed patrol- 
man shall not apply to matrons appointed 
under this act. No woman shall be ap- 
pointed a police matron, unless suitable for 
the position and recommended therefor in 
writing by at least twenty women of good 
standing, residents of The City of New York. 
Police matrons shall be appointed to station 
houses to which police courts are attached 
and to station houses which are in close 
i-v .xU.'.Uy to a j dice court. In case there 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


43 


Is no police court In close proximity to a 
station house In said city, then police ma- 
trons may be appointed to any station house 
therein. 

Police matrons to be members of uni- 
formed force. 

Sec. 360a. Such police matrons shall be 
regular members of the uniformed police 
force, and shall have the same standing 
In the police department and be subject to 
the same fines, discipline and benefits as 
patrolmen. They shall be provided with a 
suitable shield or badge, or badge of offico, 
and shall, while on duty, wear a uniform 
similar in color to that worn by other mem- 
bers of the uniformed police force. No 
police matron who shall become a member 
of the uniformed police force shall, under 
any pretense whatever, share in for her 
own benefit, any present, fee, gift, emolu- 
ment for police services, or for services of 
the police department or any member there- 
of, additional to her regular salary; and it 
shall be cause for removal from the police 
force for any matron thereof to receive any 
such reward or present or to receive com- 
pensation for any privilege whatever whlcn 
she may grant to the women prisoners under 
her charge. 

Term* of office, removal, salary. 

Sec. 361. Police matrons shall, upon ap- 
pointment, hold office until removal, and 
they may be removed at any time, by the 
authority appointing them, under the regu- 
lations prescribed for the' removal of patrol- 
men. Immediately upon the death, resigna- 
tion or removal of a police matron, her 
successor shall be appointed in the manner 
hereinbefore provided. A police matron shall 
receive the same salary as the doorman in 
the station house to which she may be ap- 
pointed. 

Duties of Police Matrons. 

Sec. 362. When only one police matron Is 
attached to a police station, she shall reside 
there, or within a reasonable distance there- 
from, and shall hold herself in readiness to 
respond to any- call therefrom at any hour, 
day or night, and each matron shall, dur- 
ing such hours as may be fixed by the 
police commissioner, remain in such station 
and hold herself in readiness to respond to 
any call therefrom. So long as any woman is 
detained or held under arrest in a police 
station to which a matron is attached, it shall 
be the duty of such matron to remain con- 
stantly thereat ready for service; or, if there 
be more than one matron attached to such 
station then one of them shall be constantly 
ready for service. A police matron shall, 
subject to the officer in charge of such sta- 
tion house, have the immediate care and 
charge of all women held under arrest in the 
station to which she is attached, and she may 
at any time call upon the officer in command 
of such station for assistance. She shall be 
subject to the authority of the police commis- 
sioner and to the rules and regulations pre- 
scribed by such authority; but at the station 
where she may be appointed on duty she 
shall be subject only to the authority of the 
officer in command thereof. 

Police commissioner to provide accom- 
modations for women. 

Sec. 363. It shall be the duty of the police 
commissioner to provide sufficient accommo- 
dations for women held under arrest to keep 
them separate and apart from the cells, cor- 
ridors and apartments provided for males 
unjcr cr;:.-:. r.n I tr? so a ranj' each s'athn 


house that no communication can be had 
between the men and women therein con- 
fined, except with the consent of the matron 
or officer in command of said station house. 
No officer, other than the matron, shall be 
admitted to the corridor or cells of the 
women prisoners without the consent of the 
officer in command of said station house. 

Proceedings where woman is arrested. 

Sec. 364. Whenever a woman Is arrested 
and taken to a police station, to which a 
matron is attached, it shall be the duty of 
the officer in command of the station to 
cause such matron to be summoned forth- 
with, and whenever a female is arrested in 
any precinct to which no matron is attached 
she shall be taken directly to the station 
house designated to receive the women pris- 
oners of the precinct in which the arrest is 
made. No such separate confinement nor 
any such removal of any woman, shall operate 
to take from any court any jurisdiction which 
it would have had. The term “woman” 
used in sections three hundred and fifty-nine 
to three hundred and sixty-six, inclusive, 
shall not Include any female either actually 
or apparently under the age of sixteen years 
whose care Is assumed by any society re- 
ferred to in section two hundred and ninety- 
three of the penal code; but every such 
female shall be taken directly to a station 
house designated to receive women prisoners 
and shall be at once transferred therefrom 
by the officer In charge, to the custody of 
such society. 

Appropriation for salary and mainte- 
nance. 

Sec. 265. The board of estimate and appor- 
tionment and the board of aldermen sh^ll 
appropriate annually such sum as may be nec- 
essary for the separate care and confinement 
in station houses of all women arrested in 
such city, and for the appointment, salary 
and maintenance of police matrons. 

Matrons to contribute to pension fund 

and share therein. 

Sec. 366. Every police matron upon being 
appointed to the uniformed force, shall, each 
year thereafter, and under the regulations 
prescribed for patrolmen, contribute two per 
centum of the salary received by her to the 
pension fund of the police force, and all fines 
and forfeitures imposed upon police matrons 
of the uniformed force, or emoluments re- 
ceived by them under the regulations pre- 
scribed for patrolmen, shall be contributed 
to the pension fund of the police force. A 
police matron who shall have performed duty 
on such police force for a period of twenty 
years or upward, upon her own application in 
writing may, or upon the certificate of so 
many of the police surgeons as the police 
board may require, showing that a matron of 
whatever age who has served twenty years as 
police matron is permanently disabled phys- 
ically or mentally, so as to be unfit for duty, 
shall, by order of the police board, be re- 
lieved and dismissed from said force and 
service and placed on the roll of the pension 
fund, and awarded and granted to be paid 
from said fund an annual pension during her 
lifetime of a sum not less than one-half of 
the full salary or compensation of such ma- 
tron so retired. Pensions granted under this 
section shall be for the natural life of the 
pensioner and shall not be revoked or di- 
minished. The police board shall have pow- 
er in its discretion, to retire or dismiss 
from membership in the police force and 
thereupon grant a pension annually of not 
loss thin twenty. five p-r oc.ptpm nor 


more than fifty per centum of her com- 
pensation to, any police matron who having 
served less than twenty-five years shall be- 
come physically or mentally incapacitated 
for further service In the department through 
injuries received during the performance of 
her duties. — As amended by Laws of 1903, 
Chapter 396. 

Certain act not applicable. 

Sec. 367. Chapter four hundred and twenty 
of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty- 
eight, entitled “An act to provide for police 
matrons in cities,” as amended by chapter 
ninety of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-one, shall not be applicable to The 
City of New York. 


CHAPTER IX. 

BOROUGH OFFICERS. 

Title 1. Borough officers. 

Title 2. Bureau of buildings. 

TITLE I. 

BOROUGH OFFICERS. 
President; qualifications, term, elec- 
tion, salary. 

Sec. 382. There shall be a president of each 
borough, who must be a resident thereof at 
the time of his election and remain a resi- 
dent thereof throughout his term of office. 
The president and his successors shall be 
elected by the electors of the borough at all 
the elections whereat the mayors of The City 
of New York are respectively to be elected. 
The president shall hold his office for a term 
of two years, commencing at noon on the 
first day of January next after his election. 
The salary of the presidents of the boroughs 
of Manhattan, of The Bronx and of Brooklyn, 
respectively, shall be seven thousand five 
hundred dollars a year, and the salary of the 
presidents of the boroughs of Queens and of 
Richmond, respectively, shall be five thou- 
sand dollars a year. A president of a bor- 
ough may be removed in the same manner 
as the mayor, as provided in other sections 
of this act. Any vacancy in the office of 
president caused by removal from the bor- 
ough, or otherwise, shall be filled for the un- 
expired term by an election to such vacancy 
made by a majority vote of all the members 
of the board of aldermen then in office rep- 
resenting said borough, and in case of any 
such vacancy it shall be the duty of the 
mayor forthwith to call such members in 
session for such an election and to preside 
thereat; but he shall not vote unless his vote 
be necessary to decide the election. 

President; powers and duties. 

Sec. 383. The president of a borough shall, 
by virtue of his office, be a member of the 
local board of every district of local im- 
provements in bis borough, and chairman 
thereof, entitled to preside at its meetings 
and to vote as any other member. He shall 
have an office In such hall or public building 
of the borough is the board of aldermen may 
by resolution direct. He may appoint and 
at pleasure remove a commissioner of public 
works for his borough, who may discharge 
all the administrative powers of the presi- 
dent of the borough relating to streets, sew- 
ers, public buildings and supplies conferred 
upon him by this act; and who shall, in the 
absence, or illness of such president dis- 
charge all the duties of such president. He 
shall have power to appoint a secretary and 
such assistants, clerks and subordinates as 
he mry derm nrccssrry. if provision be made 


44 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


therefor by the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment and the board of aldermen. 
The said secretary, assistants, clerks and 
subordinates shall hold office at the pleasure 
of the president, subject to the provisions of 
the civil service laws. He shall, within the 
borough for which he shall have been elected, 
have cognizance and control: 

1. Of regulating, grading, curbing, flag- 
ging and guttering of streets and laying of 
crosswalks. 

2. Of constructing and repairing public 
roads. 

2. Of paving, repaving, resurfacing and re- 
pairing of all streets, and of the relaying 
of all pavements removed for any cause. 

4 . Of the laying or relaying of surface 
railroad tracks in any public street or road, 
of the form of rail used, or character of 
foundation, and the method of construction, 
and of the restoration of the pavement or 
surface after such work. 

6. Of tho Ailing of sunken lots, fencing of 
vacant lots, digging down lots, and of licens- 
ing vaults under sidewalks. 

6. Of the removal of incumbrances. 

7. Of the issue of permits to builders and 
others to uso or open the streets. 

5. Of the construction and maintenance of 
all bridges and tunnels which are within 
his borough, and form a portion of the high- 
ways thereof, except such bridges as cross 
navigable streams. 

9. Of all subjects relating to the public 
sewers and drainage of his borough, and 
shall initiate the making of all plans for the 
drainage of his borough, except as otherwise 
specifically provided in this act. He shall 
have charge of the construction of all sewers 
In accordance with said plans. He shall 
have in charge the management, care and 
maintenance of the sewer and drainage sys- 
tem of the borough of which he shall be 
president and the licensing of all cisterns 
and cesspools. 

10. Of the construction, repairs, cleaning 
and maintenance of public buildings, includ- 
ing markets, except schoolhouses, alms- 
houses, penitentiaries and the fire and police 
station houses, and other buildings whose 
care and custody are otherwise provided for 
in this act. 

11. Of the care and cleaning of all offices 
leased or occupied for public uses. 

12. Of the location, establishment, care, 
erection, and maintenance of the public 
baths, public urinals and public comfort 
stations ; and of the placing of all signs in- 
dicating the names of the streets and other 
public places. 

The president of each borough shall pre- 
pare all contracts relating to his borough, 
subject to approval as to form by the cor- 
poration counsel. He shall have such other 
powers as are expressly conferred upon him 
by this act, and such other powers as may be 
conferred upon him by the board of aider- 
men. He shall make an annual report of the 
business and transactions of his borough to 
the mayor. 

The presidents of the boroughs of Queens 
and Richmond shall, each for the borough 
of which he shall have been elected presi- 
dent, in addition to the powers above speci- 
fied, have cognizance and control: 

1. Of the sweeping and cleaning of the 
streets of the borough, and of the 
removal or other disposition as 
often as the public health and the 
use of the streets may require, of ashes, 
street sweepings, garbage, and other light 
refuse and rubbish, and of the removal of 
snow and Ice from leading thoroughfares 


and from such other streets as may be found 
practicable. 

2. Of the framing of regulations control- 
ling the use of sidewalks and gutters by 
abutting owners and occupants for the dis- 
position of sweepings, refuse, garbage or 
light rubbish, within the borough, which, 
when so framed, and approved by the board 
of aldermen, shall be published in like man- 
ner as city ordinances, and shall be enforced 
by the police department in the same man- 
ner and to the same extent as such ordi- 
nances, together with such other powers con- 
cerning street cleaning, as are expressly con- 
ferred upon them by this act. 

3. The said presidents of the boroughs of 
Queens and Richmond shall have power to 
appoint such subordinates as may be neces- 
sary to enable them to carry into effect the 
provisions of this act regarding cleaning the 
streets of his borough, but the aggregate 
salaries of such officers shall not exceed 
in any one year the amount appropriated 
therefor by the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment and the board of aldermen. The 
said presidents of the boroughs of Queens 
and Richmond shall, so far as possible, se- 
lect such subordinates from the members of 
the street cleaning department employed 
within said boroughs at the time when this 
act shall take effect. The said presidents 
of the boroughs of Queens and Richmond 
shall have such other powers relating to 
street cleaning within said boroughs as are 
conferred upon the commissioner of street 
cleaning by sections five hundred and forty- 
one, five hundred and forty-three, five hun- 
dred and forty-four and five hundred and 
forty-five of this act. 

Whenever by any of the provisions of this 
act powers are conferred or duties are im- 
posed upon a president of a borough, such 
powers may be exercised and such duties 
may be performed, upon the request of said 
president, by the commissioner of public 
works of said borough, if such official shall 
have been appointed; and if not, by any sub- 
ordinate duly appointed by the president of 
said borough under the powers conferred 
upon him by this act, and duly designated 
thereto in writing; and such powers and 
duties whep exercised or performed by such 
commissioner of public works or other ap- 
pointee shall be regarded as having been 
exercised or performed by such president 
in the same manner as if such powers and 
duties had been actually exercised or per- 
formed by such president personally. 

President to call meetings of local 

board. 

Sec. 384. The president of a borough shall 
call all meetings of the various local boards 
of the borough, and shall give such notice 
thereof to the members as the ordinances of 
the board of aldermen may require. And 
he shall certify all resolutions, proceedings 
and determinations of the local boards of 
the districts of local improvements in his 
borough. 

Halls or buildings to be located in 

each borough. 

Sec. 385. There may be a hall or public 
building or buildings in each borough, at 
which may be stationed deputies of such 
of the various administrative departments of 
the city government as may be authorized 
by the board of aldermen, for the greater 
convenience of the people of the city in the 
discharge of the duties thereof, provided such 
deputies or divisions shall be in all things 
as much a part of each department respect- 
ively, and as fully under the head thereof, 
as if the administrative force of said depart- 
ment were seated wholly in one building. 


Employment of engineers and archi- 
tects. 

Sec. 386. The president of each borough may 
at any time employ, when thereto authorized 
by the board of estimate and apportionment 
and the board of aldermen, a consulting en- 
gineer, who shall be an expert in all mat- 
ters relating to sewers and highways, and 
who shall have had fifteen years' experi- 
ence as a civil engineer; and a consulting en- 
gineer of public buildings, who shall be an 
expert in the matter of construction, repair 
and maintenance of public buildings; and a 
consulting architect, who shall be an archi- 
tect of recognized, scientific and artistic 
standing of not less than fifteen years’ ex- 
perience. All other engineers or assistant 
engineers appointed by or under the au- 
thority of a borough president must be civil 
engineers of at least ten years’ experience. 

The office of commissioner of street 

improvements in the twenty-third 

nnd twenty-fourth wards abolished; 

devolution of powers. 

Sec. 387. The office of commissioner of 
street improvements of the twenty-third and 
twenty-fourth wards of the city of New York, 
created by chapter five hundred and forty-five 
of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety, 
is hereby abolished, and all the powers, 
privileges and duties of the said commis- 
sioner of street improvements for the said 
twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards, which 
in any way relate to the regulating, grading, 
regrading, curbing, flagging and guttering of 
streets, laying of crosswalks, the construct- 
ing and repairing of public roads, paving, 
repairing and repaving of all streets and 
the relaying of all' pavements removed for 
any cause, of the filling of sunken lots, or 
which In any way 'relate to the sewers and 
drainage of the said twenty-third and twenty- 
fourth wards, and to the construction, re- 
pair and cleansing of sewers and under- 
ground drains, and of the licensing of the 
cisterns and cesspools therein, and of all 
matters in any way relating" to the con- 
struction, maintenance and care of the sewer 
system and drainage of said wards, are 
hereby, so far as the same are consistent 
with the requirements of this act, devolved 
upon the president of the borough of the 
Bronx, and are to be exercised and performed 
by him or by the commissioner of public 
works appointed by him according to the pro- 
visions of this act. 

Devolution of powers of former offi- 
cers; higliwayn. 

Sec. 388. All powers and duties which on 
the first day of January, nineteen hundred 
and two, are conferred upon the commis- 
sioner of highways of The City of New York, 
and all powers and duties which on December 
thirty-first, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven, were conferred upon the corporation 
heretofore known as the mayor, aldermen 
and commonalty of the city of New York, or 
upon any board or officer thereof, or upon the 
corporation known as the city of Brooklyn, 
or upon any board or officer thereof, or upon 
the corporation known as Long Island City, 
or upon any board or officer thereof, and 
upon any other municipal corporation, towD 
or village, within the county of Richmond, 
or within tlje county of Queens in any way 
relating to the regulating, grading, regrad- 
ing, curbing, flagging and guttering of streets, 
the laying of crosswalks, the constructing 
and repairing of public roads, paving, repav- 
ing and repairing of all streets, and the re- 
laying of all pavements removed for any 
cause, the filling of sunken lots, and all mat- 
ters directly related thereto, are hereby vest- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


45 


ed in The City of New York, as constituted 
by this act, and as matter of administration 
devolved upon the president of the borough 
within which is situated the territory to 
which or to the official representatives of 
which said powers and duties heretofore ap- 
peftained, and by him are to be executed pur- 
suant to the provisions, directions and limi- 
tations of this act. 

Dcvolntlon of powers of former offi- 
cers ; sewers. 

Sec. 389. All powers and duties heretofore 
conferred upon The City New York as here- 
tofore known and bounded, or any of the of- 
ficers thereof, or upon the city of Brooklyn, 
or any of the officers thereof, or upon Long 
Island City or any of the officers thereof, or 
upon any board or public officers acting with- 
in any of the territory of the county of Rich- 
mond, or within that part of the territory of 
the county of Queens, hereby annexed by 
this act to the corporation known as the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York, and by this act consolidated 
into one municipal corporation, which in 
any way relate to the public sewers and 
drainage of the said cities, municipal corpor- 
ations, town or territory, and to the con- 
struction, repair and cleansing of sewers and 
underground drains and of the licensing of 
cisterns and cesspools therein and to all 
matters in any way concerning the construc- 
tion and care of the sewer system and drain- 
age thereof, so far as such powers and duties 
are consistent with and conformable to the 
provisions of this act, are hereby vest- 
ed in the City of New Yofk, and as 
matter of administration devolved up- 
on the President of the borough within 
which is situated the territory to which 
or to the official representatives of which said 
powers and duties heretofore appertained, to 
be by him executed in accordance with the 
piuvisions, directions and limitations of this 
act. 

Maps, etc., to be returned over to bor- 
ough presidents. 

Sec. 390. The commissioner of highways and 
the commissioner of sewers, as constituted by 
chapter three hundred and seventy-eight of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven, are hereby respectively required and 
directed to turn over and deliver, on the first 
day of January, nineteen hundred and two, to 
the several borough presidents of the various 
boroughs included within The City of New 
York, so far as the same shall apply to the 
borough of which each is president, all maps, 
plans, models, surveys, books and papers re- 
lating to highways or to sewers, filed with or 
communicated to said commissioners respect- 
ively or turned over to them or either of them 
by his of their predecessors, and all official 
records and papers of every kind in th'e pos- 
session of them or either of them. And the 
commissioner of public buildings, lighting and 
supplies as constituted by chapter three hun- 
dred and seventy-eight of the laws of eight- 
een hundred and ninety-seven is hereby re- 
quired and directed to turn over and deliver 
to the various borough presidents, on the first 
day of January, nineteen hundred and two, 
all maps, plans, models, books and papers, 
and all official records and papers of every 
kind in his possession, relating to the design- 
ing, construction and maintenance of public 
buildings, to each president such plans as 
pertain to the borough within which he has 
Jurisdiction. 

Permit for removals of pavements, 
etc. 5 procedure In case of pavement* 
relnld. etc. 

Sec. 391. No removal of the pavement or 
disturbance of the surface of any street for 


the purpose of constructing vaults or lateral 
ways, digging cellars, laying foundations of 
buildings or other structures, making sewer 
connections, or repairing sewers or pipes, of 
laying down gas and water pipes, steam pipes 
and electric wires, or introducing the same 
into buildings, or for any purpose whatever, 
shall be made until a permit is first had from 
the president of the borough where the work 
is to be done; and whenever any portion of 
the pavement in any street or avenue in said 
city shall have been removed for any of these 
purposes, and such pavement shall not be 
relaid in a manner satisfactory to the presi- 
dent of said borough, the said president may 
cause a notice, in writing, to be served upon 
the person or corporation by whom the same 
was removed; or if such removal was for the 
purpose of making connection between any 
house or lot, or any sewer or pipes in the 
street, or for constructing vaults, or other- 
wise improving any house or lot, upon the 
owner or occupant of such house or lot, re- 
quiring such person or corporation, or the 
owner or occupant of such house or 
lot, to have such pavement propprly 
relaid within five days after service of such 
notice. Such notice may be served upon 
the owner or occupant of a house or lot by 
leaving the same with any person of adult age 
upon said premises, or posting the same 
thereupon; in case such pavement, or portion 
thereof, shall not be relaid to the satisfac- 
tion of said borough president within the 
time specified in such notice, it shall be law- 
ful, and authority is hereby given to said 
borough president to have such pavement, 
or the portion thereof which shall have been 
so unsatisfactorily laid, put in proper order 
and repair, in such manner as he may deem 
best, on account of the person or corpora- 
tion by whom such pavement was removed, 
or of the owner of the premises for whose 
benefit such removal was made. Upon the 
costs of such work being certified to the 
comptroller of The City of New York by the 
said borough president, with a description 
of the lot or premises to improve which such 
removal was made, said comptroller shall pay 
the same, and the amount so paid shall be- 
come a lien and charge upon the premises 
so described, and, on being certified by the 
comptroller to the collector of assessments 
and arrears, may be collected in the same 
manner that arrears and water rates are 
collected under the direction of such col- 
lector of assessments and arrears. But noth- 
ing herein contained shall be deemed to pro- 
hibit said borough president from demand- 
ing, before issuing said permit, and as a con- 
dition thereof, the deposit of such sum of 
money or other security as, in his judgment, 
may be necessary to pay the cost of properly 
relaying the pavement so removed, together 
with the expense of the inspection thereof. 

Overflow sewers; where discharged. 

Sec. 392. Any overflow sewers which may 
be deemed necessary for the relief of any 
main sewers now constructed or which may 
hereafter be constructed in said city, may be 
discharged into the waters adjacent to said 
city, or into the Gowanus canal, or any 
other canal or inlet in said city, at such 
points as in the judgment of the president of 
the borough in which said overflow sewer is 
located may be most convenient. 

Canals to he kept free from obstruc- 
tion*. 

Sec. 393. It shall be the duty of The City of 
New York to keep any canal free from any 
obstructions that may be occasioned by rea- 
son of the emptying of said overflow sewers 
into it,, and for that purpose the president of 


the borough in which such canal is located 
is authorized and directed to dredge the same 
from time to time. 

Power to construct temporary sewers, 

expenses of same. 

Sec. 394. Whenever it shall become neces- 
sary to construct a sewer or drain 
for the purpose of preventing dam- 
age to property or to abate a 
nuisance, and it shall become imprac- 
ticable to proceed immediately to the con- 
struction of the same in accordance with 
any plan already adopted, on the approval of 
the board of estimate and apportionment, the 
president of the borough within which such 
necessity arises shall have power to con- 
struct a temporary sewer or drain in euch 
manner as to avoid such damage or to abate 
such nuisance, and the cost of such temporary 
sewer or drain shall be assessed upon the 
property draining into the same and bene- 
fited thereby. And 6uch assessments shall 
be enforced, levied and collected in the man- 
ner provided in chapter seventeen of this act. 

Permits for construction of private 

sewers; procedure; becomes property 

of city when paid for 1»j;, etc. 

Sec. 395. A permit for the ‘construction of 
sewers in the streets of said city by private 
property owners shall only be granted upon 
the parties proposing to construct such sew- 
er flret filing with the president of the bor- 
ough where said sewer is to be constructed 
plans and specifications of such proposed sew- 
er, conforming to the general plan for the 
construction of public sewers in eaid city, 
and a duplicate copy of the contract for the 
construction of such sewer, showing the cost 
of the construction thereof, together with a 
satisfactory guarantee to said borough 
president for the payment of the necessary 
expense of said department of sewers, in the 
supervision of the construction of said sewer. 
And upon approval of such plans, specifica- 
tions and contracts, by the eaid borough 
president, he shall issue his permit for the 
construction of such proposed sewer and shall 
forthwith request the board of assessors to 
apportion the cost of the construction of 
said sewer according to actual benefit be- 
tween the several parcels of property abut- 
ting on each side of that part of the street 
through which said sewer shall be construct- 
ed. The eaid board of assessors shall as soon 
as practicable report such apportionment of 
such cost to the said borough president. 
Said borough president shall grant permits 
for connection with said sewer, to be con- 
structed as aforesaid, only to euch owners or 
occupants of the property abutting on that 
part of such street through which said sewer 
shall be constructed as shall produce to said 
borough president satisfactory proof of the 
payment by him or them to the parties who 
constructed and paid for such sewer, of the 
amount of the proportionate part of the cost 
of the construction of said sewer apportion- 
ed as aforesaid to the property sought to be 
connected with said sewer, and no permit 
shall be issued for, nor shall any connection 
be allowed with said sewer, nor 
with any sewer heretofore construct- 
ed by the owners of the abutting property 
by private contract from any abutting prop- 
erty until the proportionate part of the ex- 
pense of the construction of such sewer 
shall have been paid to the parties entitled 
thereto by the owners of such abutting prop- 
erty, and satisfactory proof thereof made to 
said borough president, ^nd when con- 
structed, except for the purpose of super- 
vision, maintenance and use by The City 
of New York in connection with its public 
sewer system, said aewer shall be deemed 


46 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


the private property of the persons who 
shall have paid for Its construction until 
the owners of all the property abutting on 
that part of the street or avenue in which 
said sewer shall he laid, shall have paid 
their several shares of the cost of the con- 
struction of said sewer, but when the same 
shall have been fully paid for by all the 
owners of abutting property, then the same 
stall be the property of The City of New 
York, and deemed to have been fully dedi- 
cated to said city. 

Id. 5 power to acquire lands for 

sewers,. 

Sec. 396. The City of New York is author- 
ized to acquire title for the use of the pub- 
lic to all or any of the lands and premises 
required for sewers, or to easements there- 
in for that purpose, whether the same be 
above or below high water mark or under 
water. The board of estimate and appor- 
tionment, at the request of the president of 
the borough where such lands are located, 
is authorized to direct the same to be done. 
It shall be the duty of the corporation 
counsel, when requested in writing by the 
board of estimate and apportionment, imme- 
diately to institute a proceeding to acquire 
title for the use of the public to lands and 
premises or easements therein, required for 
the building of sewers or drains, in the 
same manner that is provided by this act for 
the acquisition of lands for the purpose of 
opening streets. The expenses incurred in 
the acquisition of such lands and premises, 
with the buildings and improvements 
thereon, so far as the same shall be taken 
In such a proceeding, shall be assessed in ac- 
cordance with the provisions of this act re- 
lating to the opening of streets upon all the 
property deemed by the commissioners of 
estimate and assessment appointed in such 
proceeding to be benefited by the acquisi- 
tion of such lands for such purpose, and 
upon the owners thereof dr persons inter- 
ested therein. 

Proposals and contracts for sewerage 

work. 

Sec. 397. The president of each borough, 
upon the completion of the plan of sewerage 
of any district within the borough of which 
ho is president, upon the filing of copies 
thereof, or as soon thereafter as may be 
deemed convenient and necessary, shall cause 
printed specifications to be made in accord- 
ance with said plan of the work proposed to 
be done in said district, and shall thereupon 
invite proposals in the manner now required 
by law, and shall contract for the whole or 
any part of the work in said district. 

Borough president authorized to pur- 
chase supplies. 

Sec. 398. In order to provide for the more 
effectual and economical construction of sew- 
ers, the president of any borough may con- 
tract in pursuance of law for such materials 
used in the construction of sewers within 
the borough of which he is president and in 
such quantities as he may deem proper; and 
it shall be the duty of the comptroller out 
of the appropriate fund or from the proceeds 
of assessment bonds authorized to be issued, 
upon the requisition of said borough presi- 
dent, to pay for such materials, and the ex- 
penses for engineers, surveyors, inspectors 
or other persons employed by authority of 
said borough president in the construction 
of sewers. 

Penalty for injury to sewers. 

Sec. 399. All provisions of law creating civil 
and criminal liabilities from wrongs and in- 
juries done to the waterworks of The City 


of New York, and providing remedies for the 
redress thereof, and the prosecution and pun- 
ishment of persons committing the same, 
shall apply in like manner and extent to 
wrongs and injuries done to sewers in the 
said city. 

Construction of lateral sewers on be- 
half of private owners. 

Sec. 400. Whenever a majority in amount, 
according to the last preceding assessment, 
of the owners of land comprising at least 
thirty acres in one body shall petition for 
leave to construct and connect lateral sew- 
ers in and upon the land in question the 
president of the borough within which said 
lands shall be located shall, unless the same 
has already been done, prepare plans and 1 
specifications of such proposed sewers con- 
forming to the general plan for the construc- 
tion of public Sewers in said City. A copy 
of said plans and specifications shall be filed 
in the office of the said borough president. 
The president of said borough may require a 
guaranty satisfactory to himself for the pay- 
ment of the necessary expense of the prep- 
aration of such plans and specifications. Upon 
the approval of such plans and specification^ 
by the said borough president, he shall, at 
the request of the petitioners, cause bids to 
be advertised according to law for the build- 
ing of any portion of said sewers to be 
named by said petitioners, but not less 
than ten thousand dollars in amount 
(or one mile in length). Upon the 
opening of said bids the said borough presi- 
dent, may award the said contract, as pro- 
vided by law, but conditioned upon the de- 
posit of the amount thereof by or on behalf 
of the petitioners as hereinafter provided. 
Thereupon the said borough president shall 
notify in writing said petitioners and the 
comptroller of such award and the amount 
that will be required thereunder to con- 
struct and build the said sewers. Within 
thirty days thereafter the said petitioners 
shall pay or cause to be paid to the comp- 
troller of The City of New York a sum equal 
to the amount necessary to construct and 
build the said sewers covered by said con- 
tract. If the petitioners shall not pay such 
money to the comptroller within the time 
aforesaid, then all proceedings hereunder 
shall be null and void, and after deducting 
from the money already deposited by or on 
behalf of the petitioners, or secured by them 
to be paid, the amount of all expenses in con- 
nection with said proposed sewers, the comp- 
troller shall return the balance of said 
money, if any, to the petitioners or their 
assigns. If the petitioners shall deposit the 
money for the purpose of carrying out said 
contract, as above provided, the said borough 
president shall duly award said contract to 
the bidder entitled thereto, and shall proceed 
to the construction and completion of said 
sewers. When the said sewers shall have 
been completed, the said borough president 
shall deliver to and file with the comptroller 
and also with the board of assessors of said 
city a certificate setting forth the amount of 
the entire cost of such portion of said sewers, 
including the interest accrued on said de- 
posit to the date of said certificate, together 
with a map and statement showing the loca- 
tion and general character of the sewer. 
Thereupon said board of assessors shall ap- 
portion and assess the cost of said sewers 
and the other expenses arising under this 
act upon the lands and premises affected 
thereby in proportion to the amount of bene- 
fit derived by each of said lots without re- 
gard to the assessed* valuation thereof, as in 
their judgment shall be just, and shall pre- 
pare a list showing the separate parcels so 


benefited, and the amounts so assessed upon 
the same respectively, and thereupon the 
same proceedings shall be had for confirma- 
tion of said assessment and apportionment 
as is provided in this charter, and said as- 
sessment and apportionment shall include In- 
terest to the date of such confirmation. The 
confirmation of said assessment and appor- 
tionment shall be final and conclusive Upon 
all owners of land and all persons affected 
thereby. The board of assessors shall there- 
upon divide the amount proportioned and as- 
sessed upon each parcel of land affected 
thereby into twenty equal annual parts or 
installments, together with Interest upon 
each installment at the rate of six per cen- 
tum per annum from the date of such con- 
firmation of the apportionment and assess- 
ment to the first day of December in each 
said twenty years successively, and shall duly 
enter their said apportionment and assess- 
ment, with interest as aforesaid, and In said 
twenty yearly installments, in books which 
they shall properly certify. Thereupon said 
board shall deliver to and file in the offices 
of the comptroller and of the collector of as- 
sessments and arrears, respectively, one copy 
of said books of apportionment and assess- 
ment. On the first day of September in each 
of said twenty years, respectively, the said 
assessment for said year shall be and be- 
come a lieu upon the lands or parcels of land 
affected thereby, and the said filing in his 
office of the said apportionment and assess- 
ment shall be to the collector of assessments 
and arrears a full and proper warrant for 
collecting the installments so levied, as they 
respectively become dud in each year. Tha 
said installments so levied shall in each case 
be due aud payable on the first day of De- 
cember in each year, and according to said 
apportionment and assessment, and shall be 
collected in the same manner and subject to 
the same rebate and default as is provided 
by law in the case of assessments in tho 
said city affecting the lands in question, and 
all the provisions of law applicable to the 
sale of lands for the non-payment of assess- 
ments in tho said city affecting the lands in 
question shall apply to the Gaid assessments 
provided for herein. Each one of the said 
several annual installments levied as afore- 
said in each year shall, notwithstanding any 
other provisions of this charter, be a lien 
upon tho lands or parcels of land affected 
thereby only from the time the same shall 
be respectively levied. The owner of any 
parcel of land so assessed may at any time 
after the first Installment shall have become 
due and payable, pay to the comptroller of 
The City of New York all the installments 
not levied of the sum made chargeable on 
said land, as ascertained by the board of as- 
sessors as provided for in this section, with 
the proper deduction or rebate for any in- 
terest for any period subsequent to the date 
of said payment and included in said unpaid 
installments respectively upon said books. 
Thereupon the said land shall be discharged 
from all further liability on account of such 
assessments. For the purpose of making 
such payment, such owner shall present to 
the comptroller the certificate of the col- 
lector of assessments and arrears showing 
the amount of the said Installments not 
levied and paid, and upon receiving such 
payment the comptroller shall certify the 
same to the collector of assessments and 
arrears, who shall thereupon cancel the as- 
sessments so paid. The collector of assess- 
ments and arrears Shall cause to be printed 
on all bills made out in his office for la- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


47 


stallments of said assessments a reference to 
this section and a notification that the re- 
maining installments may be paid and can- 
celed in the manner herein provided. When- 
ever the petitioners or their assigns or nom- 
inees shall have paid, or shall have caused to 
be paid, to the comptroller the sum of money 
required to construct and build said sewers 
or any portion thereof, a6 specified in the 
said contract or contracts, they shall be en- 
titled to receive the moneys and all inter- 
est thereon to be assessed and collected 
under this act, and all such moneys and 
interest so collected upon eaid assessment 
shall forthwith be paid over to the said 
petitioners, or their nominees or assigns. 
Whenever the said money shall have been so 
paid by said petitioners, or their nominees or 
assigns, the Comptroller shall execute to 
the person or corporation so paying said 
money a certificate in writing, stating that 
6aid money has been so paid, and that the 
person or corporation holding said certifi- 
cate is entitled to receive the money so as- 
sessed together with interest thereon at the 
rate of six per centum per annum, and that 
the city will pay over from time to time 
said moneys and Interest as they shall be 
received and collected under this section. 
The petitioners, or their assigns, may from 
time to time designate various portions of 
said sewers, not less than the amount above 
specified, to be built and completed as here- 
in provided, and thereupon the same pro- 
ceedings as above provided shall be taken 
for the building and completing of the said 
Bewers so successively designated, and for 
assessing and collecting the amounts expend- 
ed for constructing said sewers. In constru- 
ing this section, sewers twenty-four inches 
or less in diameter shall be deemed to be 
lateral sewers, and all sewers exceeding 
twenty-four Inches in diameter shall be 
deemed to be trunk sewers. If, in any case, 
the moneys deposited with the comptroller 
shall exceed the cost of building and com- 
pleting the sewers for which the said moneys 
were deposited, the comptroller shall, upon 
ascertaining this fact, pay over such surplus 
to the petitioners or their assigns or nomi- 
nees. If the moneys so deposited shall not 
be found sufficient to complete the sewers 
for which the same were deposited, then the 
comptroller may demand of the petitioners 
or their assigns or nominees the balance re- 
quired to build and complete said sewers, and 
in case of their failure to pay the same, the 
comptroller may retain any such balance out 
of the first moneys coming into his hands 
from assessments upon the property upon 
which the said sewers were constructed. The 
petitioners shall have the right to appoint in 
writing an attorney or nominee to represent 
them in relation to said sewers before any 
of the authorities of the city, and to receive 
any moneys payable hereunder or do any 
act or receive any notice required hereun- 
der. Such appointment of a nominee or at- 
torney shall be irrevocable without the con- 
sent of said nominee or attorney. Nothing 
herein contained shall in any way prevent 
The City of New York from taking such 
action as it may deem proper to build lat- 
eral sewers upon or do any other act in rela- 
tion to any of the property mentioned in said 
petition. This section shall apply to the 
boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in The 
City of New York. 

Construction of sewngre disposal 
works or plants and nppnrtennnces, 
and providing; for the payment of 
the cost thereof liy local assessment. 

Sec. 401. Wherever in this act known as 
'•the Greater New York Charter," or in any 


other act or acts applicable to The City of 
New York, or the mayor, aldermen and com- 
monalty of the city of New York, the words 
“sewer” or “sewers” or the words “con- 
struction, repairing and cleansing of sewers 
and underground drain," or the words “map 
or plan for the proper sewerage and drain- 
age,” or the words “the construction and 
care and maintenance of the sewer system 
and drainages,” or the words “local improve- 
ment” shall occur, the said words shall be 
construed to include and to mean sewage 
disposal works or plants, and the necessary 
appurtenances thereto. It is the intent and 
meaning of this section that sewage disposal 
works or plants and the necessary appur- 
tenances thereto, shall be construed as being 
a part and parcel of a sewer, and the cost 
of constructing and erecting the same shall 
be paid for by local assessments upon the 
property deemed to be benefited thereby in 
the same way as the cost of constructing a 
sewer and appurtenances is paid for in The 
City of New York, and the cost of repairing, 
cleansing and maintaining such sewage dis- 
posal works or plants and appurtenances, 
shall be paid for in the same way as the cost 
of repairing, cleansing and maintaining sew- 
ers and underground drains are paid for. 
Power and authority to construct and erect 
and maintain sewage disposal works or plants 
and the necessary appurtenances thereto in 
The City of New York is hereby granted to 
the same authorities as the power to con- 
struct sewers and appurtenances is granted, 
such construction and erection and main- 
tenance to be done under and pursuant to and 
in compliance with the same laws and regu- 
lations as apply to the construction and 
maintenance of sewers and appurtenances 
thereto. 

TITLE 2. 

BUREAU OF BUILDINGS. 

Appointment of superintendents; qual- 
ifications; jurisdiction ; salaries. 

Sec. 405. There shall be in the office of each 
borough president a bureau to be known as 
"the bureau of buildings for the borough of 

— The presidents of the boroughs 

of Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn shall, 
each within the borough for which he As 
elected, appoint a superintendent of build- 
ings for the borough. The presidents of the 
boroughs of Queens and Richmond may, 
whenever appropriation is made therefor by 
the board of aldermen upon the recommen- 
dation of the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment, each within the borough for which 
he is elected, in like manner appoint a su- 
perintendent of buildings for the borough. 
Every superintendent of buildings so appoint- 
ed shall be a competent architect or builder 
of at least ten years’ experience. The presi- 
dent of a borough may, whenever in his judg- 
ment the public interests shall require, re- 
move the superintendent of buildings of his 
borough. Every such superintendent shall 
hold office until his successor is appointed 
and has qualified. The salaries of the su- 
perintendents of buildings in the boroughs of 
Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn shall, 
unless otherwise fixed as provided in this 
act, be five thousand dollars a year. The 
salary of the superintendent of buildings in 
the borough of Queens (if that office is 
created) shall, unless otherwise fixed as pro- 
vided in this act, be three thousand five 
hundred dollars a year. The salary of the 
superintendent of buildings in the borough of 
Richmond (if that office is created) shall, un- 
less otherwise fixed as provided in this act, 
be two thousand five hundred dollars a year. I 


In case no superintendent of buildings is 
appointed by either the president of the bor- 
ough of Queens or the president of the bor- 
ough of Richmond, then the presidents of the 
said boroughs respectively shall each, within 
the borough for which he has been elected, 
exercise all the powers and discharge all the 
duties of a superintendent of buildingsforthat 
borough. The words “superintendent of build- 
ings” wherever used in the subsequent sec- 
tions of this chapter shall be taken and 
held to mean a superintendent of buildings 
for any borough lawfully appointed by the 
president thereof, under the preceding pro- 
visions of this section, or, in the case of the 
boroughs of Queens and Richmond, the bor- 
ough president in case he shall not have ap- 
pointed a superintendent of buildings. 

Duties of superintendents; appoint- 
ment unci removal of subordinates. 

Sec. 406. Each superintendent of buildings 
shall, within the borough or boroughs in 
which he has jurisdiction, have charge of the 
administration of, and it shall be his duty, 
subject to and in accordance with the general 
rules and regulations established by the 
president of the borough, to enforce such 
rules and regulations and the provisions of 
this chapter and of such ordinances as may 
be established by the board of aldermen, and 
of the laws relating to the construction, al- 
teration or removal of buildings or other 
structures erected or to be erected within 
such borough. Each superintendent of build- 
ings within the limits of his appropriation 
shall have power to appoint and at pleasure 
to remove subordinate officers, as follows: 
Such chief inspectors of buildings, and suen 
inspectors of buildings, engineers, clerks, 
messengers, assistants and other subordin- 
ates as in his judgment may be necessary and 
proper to carry out and enforce such rules 
and regulations and ordinances and the pro- 
visions of said laws and of this chapter with- 
in the borough under his jurisdiction. The 
chief inspectors of buildings shall each be a 
competent architect, engineer or builder of 
at least ten years’ practice. The inspectors 
shall be competent men, either architects, 
engineers, masons, carpenters, plumbers or 
iron workers, who shall have served at least 
five years as such. It shall not be lawful 
for any officer or employe in the building bu- 
reau of any borough to be engaged in con- 
ducting or carrying on business as an arch- 
itect, civil engineer, carpenter, plumber, iron 
worker, mason or builder, while holding office 
in the bureau or to be engaged in the manu- 
facture or sale of articles entering into the 
construction of buildings, or act as agent for 
any person engaged in the manufacture or 
sale of such articles, or own stock in any 
corporation engaged in the manufacture or 
sale of such articles. Each superintendent of 
buildings shall have power to designate In 
writing one of the inspectors so appointed by 
him to act on any survey authorized by law, 
or to perform such other duties as the said 
superintendent may direct. Each superin- 
tendent of buildings may designate a chief 
inspector of buildings, who, during the ab- 
sence or inability - of such superintendent 
shall possess all the powers and perform all 
his duties so far as they relate to buildings. 
Any employe, for any neglect of duty, or 
omission to properly perform his duty, for vi- 
olation* of rules, or neglect or disobedience of 
orders, or incapacity, or absence without 
leave, may be punished by the officer ap- 
pointing him by forfeiting and withholding 
pay for a specified time, or by suspension 
from duty with or without pay; but this 
provision shall not be deemed to abridge the 
I right of se.ill officer to remove or Uismisa 


48 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


any Inspector of 'buildings or other subor- 
dinate appointed by him or by any prede- 
cessor in office from the service of the bu- 
reau at any time in his discretion. Any offi- 
cer or employe of or In the bureau of build- 
ings of aiy borough, or police officer there- 
to detailed, who shall ask, solicit or accept 
or receive any money or other compensation 
for enforcing or not enforcing or for modify- 
ing or changing any order or requirement of 
said bureau shall be guilty of a felony. 

Continuation and repeal of existing 

laws; building code. 

Sec. 407. The board of aldermen is author- 
ized by ordinance to regulate and restrict the 
height of buildings to be hereafter erected in 
the city. When any ordinance on that subject 
is introduced, the board of aldermen shall 
provide for public hearings in reference there- 
to, before it or before appropriate commit- 
tees; and no ordinance restricting the height 
of buildings shall be passed unless it is ap- 
proved beforehand by the board of estimate 
and apportionment by a resolution or vote 
of a majority of the members of such board 
entered on its minutes or record, and unless 
it shall be passed by a majority of all the 
members elected to the board of aldermen, 
the vote being taken by ayes and noes. The 
building code which shall be in force In The 
City of New York on the first day of January, 
nineteen hundred and two, and all then exist- 
ing provisions of law fixing the penalties for 
violation of said code, and all then existing 
laws afTecUng cr relating to the construction, 
alteration or removal of buildings or other 
structures within The City of New York are 
hereby declared to be binding and in force in 
The City of New York, and shall continue 
to be so binding and in force except as the 
same may from time to time be revised, al- 
tered, amended or repealed as herein pro- 
vided. No right or remedy of any character 
stall be lost or impaired or affected by rea- 
son of this chapter. This chapter shall not 
affect or impair any act done or right accru- 
ing, accrued or acquired or penalty, forfeiture 
or punishment incurred prior to the time 
when this act takes effect, or by virtue of any 
law repealed or modified by this chapter, but 
the same may be asserted, enforced, prose- 
cuted or inflicted as fully and to the same 
extent as if this act had not been passed or 
said law had not been repealed or modified. 
The board of aldermen shall have power from 
time to time to amend said building code and 
said laws and to provide therein for all mat- 
ters concerning, affecting or relating to the 
construction, alteration or removal of build- 
ings or structures erected or to be erected 
in The City of New York, and for the purpose 
of preparing or amending such code to ap- 
point and employ a commission of experts. 

General provisions relative to existing- 

building laws. 

Bee. 408. The superintendent of buildings 
appointed by the president of £.e borough of 
Manhattan shall within such borough in addi- 
tion to the powers, rights and duties ex- 
pressly conferred or imposed upon him by 
this act, possess and exercise all the powers, 
rights and duties, and shall be subject to all 
the obligations heretofore vested in, con- 
ferred upon or required of the board of build- 
ings of The City of New York and of the 
commissioner of buildings appointed for the 
boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx so 
far as they relate to the borough of Manhat- 
tan and except in so far as the same are in- 
consistent with or are modified by this act. 
The superintendent of buildings appointed by 
the president of the borough of The Brt>nx 


shall within such borough, in addition to the 
powers, rights and duties expressly conferred 
upon him by this act, and except as herein- 
after expressly provided, possess and exercise 
all the powers, rights and duties and shall 
be subject to all the obligations heretofore 
vested in, conferred upon or required of the 
board of buildings of The City of New York 
and of the commissioner of buildings ap- 
pointed for the boroughs of Manhattan and 
The Bronx, so far as they relate to the 
borough of The Bronx, and except in so far 
as the same are inconsistent with or are mod- 
ified by this act. The superintendent of build- 
ings appointed by the president of the bor- 
ough of Brooklyn shall, within such borough, 
in addition to the powers, rights and duties 
expressly conferred or imposed upon him by 
this act, possess and exercise all the powers, 
rights and duties, and shall be subject 
to all the obligations heretofore vested 
in, conferred upon or required of the 
board of buildings of The City of New 
York and of the commissioner of buildings 
appointed for the borough of Brooklyn 
so far as they relate to the borough of 
Brooklyn, and except in so far as the same 
are inconsistent with or are modified by this 
act. The president of the borough of Queens, 
in case he shall not appoint a superintendent 
of buildings, and if he shall appoint such a 
superintendent, then such superintendent 
shall within such borough in addition to the 
powers, rights and duties expressly conferred 
or imposed upon him by this act, possess 
and exercise ail the powers, rights and du- 
ties, and shall be subject to all the obliga- 
tions heretofore vested in, conferred upon 
or required of the board of buildings of The 
City of New York and of the commissioner 
of buildings appointed for the boroughs of 
Queens and Richmond, so far as they relate 
to the borough of Queens, and except in so 
far as the same are inconsistent with or are 
modified by this act. The president of the 
borough of Richmond, in case he shall not 
appoint a superintendent of buildings, and 
if he shall appoint such a superintendent, 
then such superintendent shall within such 
borough, in addition to the powers, rights 
and duties expressly conferred or Imposed 
upon him by this act, possess and exercise 
all the powers, rights and duties, and shall 
be subject to all the obligations heretofore 
vested in conferred upon or required of the 
board of buildings of The City of New York 
and of the commissioner of buildings appoint- 
ed for the boroughs of Queens and Rich- 
mond, so far as they relate to the borough 
of Richmond, ana except in so far as the 
same are inconsistent with or are modified 
by this act. 

Rales and regulations. 

Sec. 409. Each president of a borough shall 
have power to establish general rules and 
regulations for the administration of the 
building department of his borough, and such 
other rules and regulations as were author- 
ized by law T at the time of the passage of 
chapter three hundred and seventy-eight of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven to be established by the superintendent 
of buildings in The City of New York, or 
by the commissioner of the department of 
buildings in the city of Brooklyn, as said 
cities were formerly constituted. Such rules 
and regulations shall, so far as practicable, 
be uniform in all the boroughs, but the 
president of the borough shall have power, 
from time to time, to amend or repeal such 
rules and regulations when in his opinion 
it shall seem necessary or desirable. 

Power to vary the provisions of law. 

Sec. 410. Each superintendent of buildings 
shall have power, with the approval of the 


president of the borough in case the super- 
intendent of buildings is a different individ- 
ual from the president of the borough, to 
vary or modify any rule or regulation of 
the president of the borough or the provis- 
ions of this chapter or of any existing law 
or ordinance relating to the construction, 
alteration or removal of any building or 
structure erected or to be erected within his 
jurisdiction upon an application to him there- 
for in writing by the owner of such building 
or structure, or his duly authorized agent, 
where there are practical difficulties in the 
way of carrying out the strict letter of the 
law, so that the spirit of the law shall be 
observed and public safety secured and sub- 
stantial justice done. Where such applica- 
tion has been filed with a superintendent of 
buildings the owner of such building or 
structure or his duly authorized agent shall 
have the right to present a petition to such 
superintendent of buildings, setting forth the 
grounds for the desired variation or modifi- 
cation, and may appear before him and be 
heard. The said officer shall fix a date within 
a reasonable time for a hearing upon such 
application and shall as soon as practi- 
cable render a decision thereon, which de- 
cision shall be final. The particulars of 
each such application and of the decision 
thereon shall be entered upon the records 
of the building department of such borough, 
and if the application is granted a certificate 
therefor, together with a statement of the 
reasons for such decision, shall be issued by 
the officer to whom the application is made 
and shall be countersigned by the president 
of the borough. 

Appeals. 

Sec. 411. Each superintendent of buildings 
shall have power and it shall be his duty, 
subject to the provisions of law and the or- 
dinances of the board of aldermen, and the 
general rules and regulations established ac- 
cording to law to pass upon any question 
relative to the mode, manner of construction 
or materials to be used in the erection or 
alteration of any building or other structure 
erected or to be erected within the borough 
under his Jurisdiction which is included with- 
in the provisions of this chapter, or of any 
existing law applicable to such borough re- 
lating to the construction, alteration or re- 
moval of buildings or other structures, and to 
require that such mode, manner of construc- 
tion or materials shall conform to the true 
Intent and meaning of the several provisions 
of this chapter and of the laws and ordi- 
nances aforesaid, and the rules and regula- 
tions established by the president of the 
borough. Whenever a superintendent of 
buildings to whom such question has been 
submitted, shall reject or refuse to approve 
the mode, manner of construction or ma- 
terials proposed to be followed or used in 
the erection or alteration of any such build- 
ing or structure, or when it is claimed that 
the rules and regulations of the president of 
the borough or the provisions of law or of 
said ordinances do not apply, or that an equal- 
ly good and more desirable form of construc- 
tion can be employed in any specific case, 
the owner of such building or structure, or 
his duly authorized agent, may appeal from 
the decision of such superintendent where 
the amount involved by such decision shall 
exceed the sum of one thousand dollars. 
Such appeal shall be heard by a board of ex- 
aminers consisting of one member of the New 
York chapter of the American Institute of 
Architects, one member of the New York 
Board of Fire Underwriters, two members 
of the Mechanics and Traders’ Exchange of 
said city, one of whom shall be a master ma- 
son and one a master carpenter, one member 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


49 


of the Society of Architectural Iron Manufac- 
turers of said city, and one member of the 
Real Estate Owners and Builders’ Association 
of said city, who shall be an architect or 
builder, all of whom shall be appointed by 
their respective associations, and so certi- 
fied to annually to the mayor of The City of 
New York, and the chief of the Fire Depart- 
ment of The City of New York. The said 
examiners shall each take the usual oath 
of office before entering upon the perform- 
ance of their duties. The mayor shall an- 
nually designate one of said examiners as 
the presiding officer of said board. At least 
five affirmative votes shall be necessary to 
the granting of any petition by said board. 
No member of said board shall pass upon 
any question in which he is personally inter- 
ested. The said board shall meet once a 
week upon notice from any of the superin- 
tendents of buildings. The members of said 
board of examiners shall be entitled to and 
shall receive ten dollars for each attend- 
ance at a meeting of said board, to be paid 
by the comptroller from an appropriate 
fund, to be provided by the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment and the board of 
aldermen, upon the voucher of the clerk of 
said board of examiners. The clerk of the 
board of examiners shall be appointed and 
may be removed by the mayor of The City 
of New York, and shall receive a salary of 
one thousand five hundred dollars. The ap- 
peal authorized by this section may be taken 
•within ten days from the entry of a decision 
upon the records of the superintendent of 
buildings by filing with the officer rendering 
such decision and with the clerk of the board 
of examiners and by filing with the clerk of 
the board of examiners copies of all papers 
required by law or by the rules and regula- 
tions of the president of the borough, to be 
submitted upon an application for a building 
permit, and the board of examiners shall there- 
after fix a day within a reasonable time for 
the hearing of such appeal, and upon 6uch 
hearing the appellant may be represented 
either in person or by his agent or attorney. 
The decision of the board of examiners, 
upon such appeal, shall be rendered without 
unnecessary delay, and such decision shall 
be final. 

Accounts) annual estimates; expend- 
itures. 

Sec. 412. Each superintendent of build- 
ings shall keep accurate and detailed ac- 
counts, in a form approved by the comp- 
troller of all moneys received and expended 
by him, the sources from which they are re- 
ceived and the purposes for which they are 
expended. 

Record of applications. 

Sec. 413. Each superintendent of build- 
ings shall keep a record of all applications 
presented to him concerning, affecting or re- 
lating to the construction, alteration or re- 
moval of buildings or other structures. Such 
record shall include the date of the filing of 
each such application; the name and address 
of the applicant; the name and address of 
the owner of the land on which the structure 
mentioned in such application is situated; 
the names and addresses of the architect and 
builder employed thereon; a designation of 
the premises by street number, or other- 
wise, sufficient to identify the same; a state- 
ment of the nature and proposed use of such 
structure; and a brief statement of the 
nature of the application, together with a 
memorandum of the decision of the super- 
intendent upon such application and the date 
of the rendition of such decision. The books 
containing such records are hereby declared 


to be public records, and shall be open to 
inspection at all reasonable times. 

Books, plans, etc., to be delivered to 
borongh presidents. 

Sec. 414. Each commissioner of buildings 
as constituted by chapter three hundred 
and seventy-eight of the law's of eighteen 
hundred and ninety-seven is hereby re- 
quired and directed to turn over and deliver 
on January first, nineteen hundred and tw'O, 
to the president of each borough, so far as 
the same shall apply to the borough of which 
he is president, all plans, records, books, 
and papers relating to buildings filed with or 
deposited with said commissioner or turned 
over to him by his predecessor, and all offi- 
cial records and papers of every kind in his 
possession. In case any doubt shall arise 
as to the proper disposition of said plans, 
books, papers and records, the presidents 
of the various boroughs shall meet together 
and devise a plan for such distribution, 
which plan when approved by the mayor 
shall be followed by the said presidents and 
said commissioners In their distribution of 
all such plans, books, records and papers 
relating to buildings. 

CHAPTER X. 

CONTRACTS AND LOCAL IMPROVE- 
MENTS. 

Title 1. General provisions relating to 
contracts. 

Title 2. Local boards. 

Title 3. Local improvements. 

Title 4. Maps and plans. 

TITLE I. 

GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO 
CONTRACTS. 

Board of aldermen) restriction on 
powers of. 

Sec. 417. It shall not be lawful for the 
board of aldermen to enter directly into 
contract for any public work or improve- 
ment whatsoever. 

Board of aldermen) farther restric- 
tions. 

Sec. 418. It shall not be lawful for the 
board of aldermen to release any contractor 
v/ith the city or with any of the departments, 
boards, bureaus or officers thereof, from any 
fine or penalty incurred under his contract, 
save upon the unanimous recommendatiop 
of the board of estimate and apportionment. 
And it shall not be lawful for the board of 
aldermen to extend the time for the perform- 
ance of any such contract save upon the 
unanimous recommendation of the board of 
estimate and apportionment. 

Contracts for work or supplies. 

Sec. 419. All contracts to be made or let 
for w'ork to be done or supplies to be fur- 
nished, except as in this act otherwise pro- 
vided, and all sales of personal property in 
the custody of the several borough presi- 
dents, departments or bureaus, shall be made 
by the appropriate borough presidents or 
beads of departments under such regulations 
as shall be established by ordinance or reso- 
lution of the board of aldermen. Whenever 
any work is necessary to be done to com- 
plete or perfect a particular job, or any sup- 
ply is needful for any particular purpose, 
w'hich w’orlc and job is to be undertaken or 
supply furnished for The City of New York, 
and the several parts of the said work or 
supply shall, together, involve the expendi- 
ture of more than one thousand dollars, the 
same shall be by contract, under such regu- 


lations concerning it as shall be established 
by ordinance or resolution of the board of 
aldermen, excepting such works now in 
progress as are authorized by law or ord- 
inance to be done otherwise than by con- 
tract and, unless otherwise ordered by a 
vote of three-fourths of the members elected 
to the board of aldermen; and all contracts 
shall be entered into by the appropriate 
borough president, and heads of departments, 
and shall, except as herein otherwise pro- 
vided, be founded on sealed bids or pro- 
posals, made in compliance wdth public 
notices, duly advertised in the City Record, 
and the corporation newspapers, and said 
notice be published at least ten days; 
if a borough president or the head of a de- 
partment shall not deem it for the interests 
of the city to reject all bids, he shall, with- 
out the consent or approval of any other 
department or officer of^^the cRy government, 
award the contract to the lowest bidder, 
unless the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment by a three-quarter vote of the whole 
board, shall determine that it is for the 
public interest that a bid other than the 
lowest should be accepted; the terms of 
such contract shall be settled by the cor- 
poration counsel as an act of preliminary 
specification to the bid or proposal. The 
bidder whose bid is accepted shall give se- 
curity for the faithful performance of his 
contract in the manner prescribed and re- 
quired by ordinance; and the adequacy and 
sufficiency of this security shall, in addition 
to the justification and acknowledgment, be 
approved by the comptroller. All bids or 
proposals shall be publicly opened by the 
officer or officers advertising for the same, 
and in the presence of the comptroller, but 
the opening of the bids shall not be post- 
poned if the comptroller shall, after due 
notice, fall to attend; if the bidder whose bid 
has been accepted shall neglect or refuse to 
accept the contract within five days after 
written notice that the same has been 
awarded to his bid or proposal, or if he ac- 
cepts but does not execute the contract and 
give the proper security, it shall be readver- 
tised and relet as above provided. In case 
any work shall be abandoned by any con- 
tractor, it shall be readvertised and relet 
by the appropriate borough president or the 
head of the appropriate department in the 
manner in this section provided. No bid 
shall be accepted from, or contract awarded 
to. any person who is in arrears to The City 
of New York upon debt or contract, or who 
is a defaulter, as surety or otherwise, upon 
any obligation to the city. Every contract, 
when made and entered into, as before pro- 
vided for, shall be executed in duplicate, 
and shall be filed in the department of 
finance; together with a copy of the resolu- 
tion or ordinance of the board of aldermen 
and the local board, and together with the 
approval of the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment wherever the same is required by 
the provisions of this act, or copies of both, 
as the case may be, authorizing said work; 
such copies shall be so filed within five days 
after the contract shall have been duly ex- 
ecuted by the contractor; a receipt for each 
payment, made on account of or In satis- 
faction for the same, shall be endorsed on 
the said contract by the party receiving 
the warrant, which warrant shall be only 
given to the person interested in such con- 
tract, or his authorized representative. No 
expenditure for work or supplies involving 
an amount for which no contract is required 
shall be made, except the necessity therefor 
be certified to by the appropriate bor- 
ough president or the head of the appropri-* 


50 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


ate department, and the expenditure has 
been duly authorized and appropriated. 

Proposnls to be advertised; deposit to 

accompany bid. 

Sec. 420. Whenever proposals for furnish- 
ing supplies or doing work are invited by ad- 
vertisement by any department or officer, 
such department or officer is authorized and 
directed to require, as a condition prece- 
dent to the reception or consideration of 
any proposal, the deposit with such depart- 
ment or officer of a certified clerk upon one 
of the state or national banks of the said 
city, drawn to the order of the comptroller, 
or of money; such checks or money to accom- 
pany the proposal, to an amount not less 
than three nor more than five per centum 
of the amount of the bond required by the 
department or officer for the faithful per- 
formance of the work proposed to be done 
or supplies to be furnished. Within three 
days after the decision as to whom the con- 
tract is to be awarded, the comptroller shall 
return all the deposits made to the persons 
making the same, except the deposit 
made by the bidder whose bid has been ac- 
cepted; and if the said bidder whose bid 
has been accepted shall refuse or neglect, 
within five days after due notice that the 
contract has been awarded, to execute the 
same, or to furnish the required bond, the 
amount of deposit made by him shall be 
forfeited to and retained by the said city 
as liquidated damages for such neglect or 
refusal, and shall be paid into the sinking 
fund of the city, but if the said bidder shall 
execute the contract and furnish the re- 
quired bond within the time aforesaid, the 
amount of his deposit shall be returned to 
him. 

Certificate of completion to be filed. 

Sec. 421. It shall be the duty of any bor- 
ough president, or head of any department 
having in charge any w'ork, within five days 
after the acceptance of such work, to file 
with the comptroller a final certificate of 
the completion and acceptance thereof, signed 
by the chief engineer or head of his depart- 
ment. The filing of such certificate shall be 
presumptive evidence that such work has 
been completed according to contract. It 
shall also be the duty of such borough presi- 
dent, or head of department, in the case of 
work to be paid for in whole or in part by 
assessment for benefit, when such work shall 
have been completed and accepted, and all 
the expenses thereof which may be legally 
assessed shall have been ascertained, to ex- 
ecute a certificate of the total amount of all 
the cost and expense* which shall have been 
actually incurred by The City of New York 
on account of such work and fcrwafd the 
same to the board of assessors in accord- 
ance with section nine hundred and forty- 
six of this act. Accompanying said certifi- 
cate shall be a. copy of the resolution of 
the board of estimate and apportionment or 
of the resolution or ordinance of the board 
of aldermen, or of the resolution of the local 
board or department, or copies of any or 
such of them as may be required, author- 
izing such work to be done, and also a copy 
of any resolution or ordinance, if any such 
has been passed, determining that any pro- 
portion of the cost and expense of such work 
shall be borne by The City of New York. 
The board of assessors shall, upon receiving 
such certificate, assess upon the property 
benefited, in the manner authorized by law, 
the amount of the certificate, or such pro- 
portions thereof, as is authorized by law. 
T)m> proceedings relative to levying, con- 


firming ’and collecting any such assessments 
shall be in accordance with the provisions 
of chapter seventeen of this act. 

Comptroller to pay contractors. 

Sec. 422. When a contract for a public Im- 
provement shall have been entered into and 
a certified copy thereof shall have been 
filed with the comptroller, in conform- 
ity with section four hundred and nine- 
teen of this act, said comptroller is 
hereby authorized and directed to pay to the 
contractor or his assigns, from time to 
time as the work progresses, seventy per 
centum of the estimated value of the work 
actually done under said contract, until the 
same shall have been completed. The esti- 
mate of the value of any such work shall 
be signed by the surveyor and also by the 
chief engineer of the department having the 
matter in charge, and upon the final com- 
pletion of any contract, and the filing of the 
final certificate of completion, the comptroller 
shall, within thirty days thereafter, or with- 
in thirty days after the expiration of the 
time within which, according to the terms 
of the contract, the city has to accept such 
work, pay to the contractor or his assigns, 
the balance of the amount due under said 
contract, provided, however, that the board 
of aldermen, upon the recommendation of 
the. board of estimate and apportionment, 
may authorize contracts for asphalt or 
other pavements to be made with a guaranty 
upon the part of the contractor for one or 
more years, with a provision for the reten- 
tion of a percentage of the amount to be 
paid, which shall be paid within thirty days 
after the expiration of the guaranty, upon 
the filing of a certificate signed by the chief 
engineer of the department having the mat- 
ter In charge that the terms of the contract 
have been complied with. The payments to 
be made by the comptroller pursuant to this 
section shall be made out of the “street im- 
provement fund,” if the cost and expense of 
said work are to be assessed in whole or in 
part upon property deemed to be benefited 
thereby. The amounts collected from any 
and all assessments for local improvements 
paid out of such fund, together with all de- 
faults and interest on the same, are to be 
paid into said fund. It shall be the duty of, 
and lawful for the comptroller, when there- 
to authorized by the board of estimate and 
apportionment to create and issue such ad- 
ditional amounts of the corporate stock of 
The City of New York as shall be necessary 
to provide for the cost and expense of such 
-work, or such part thereof as is to be borne 
and paid by The City of New York; and the 
proceeds of the sale of such stock shall be 
paid into the street improvement fund. 

TITLE 2. 

LOCAL BOARDS. 

Districts for home rule and local im- 
provements. 

Sec. 425. For the purposes of home rule 
and local improvements the territory of The 
City of New York is hereby divided into 
twenty-five districts of local improvements. 
The first district shall consist of the county 
of Richmond, and shall be called Staten 
Island; the second district shall consist of 
wards one and two of the borough of Queens, 
and shall be called Newtown; the third dis- 
trict shall consist of wards three, four and 
five of the borough of Queens, and shall be 
called Jamaica; the fourth district shall 
consist of the territory comprised in the 
third senatorial district of the state of New 
York, as such district is divided by the con- 
stjtutiqn of the state of New York, in 


force January first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-five, and shall be called The Heights; 
the fifth district shall consist of the terri- 
tory comprised in the fourth senatorial dis- 
trict of the state of New York, and shall be 
called Bedford; the sixth district shall con- 
sist of the eighth, thirtieth and thirty- 
first wards of the borough of Brooklyn, and 
shall be called Bay Ridge; the seventh dis- 
trict shall consist of the tenth and twelfth 
wards of the borough of Brooklyn, and shall 
be called Red Hook; the eighth district shall 
consist of the territory comprised in the 
sixth senatorial district of the state of New 
York, and shall be called Prospect Heights; 
the ninth district shall consist of the terri- 
tory comprised in the seventh senatorial dis- 
trict of the state of New York, and shall be 
called Williamsburg; the tenth district 
shall consist of the territory comprised in 
the eighth senatorial district of the state of 
New York, and shall be called Flatbush; 
the eleventh district shall consist of the ter- 
ritory comprised in the ninth senatorial dis- 
trict of the state of New' York, and shall be 
called Bushwick; the twelfth district shall 
consist of the territory comprised in the 
tenth senatorial district of the state of New 
York, and shall be called Bowling Green; 
the thirteenth district shall consist of the 
territory comprised in the eleventh sena- 
torial district of the state of New York, and 
shall be called The Bowery; the fourteenth 
district shall consist of the territory com- 
prised in the twelfth senatorial district of 
the state of New York, and shall be called 
Corlear’s Hook; the fifteenth district shall 
consist of the territory comprised in the 
thirteenth senatorial district of the state of 
New' York, and shall be called Greenwich; 
the sixteenth district shall consist of tha 
territory comprised in the fourteenth sena 
toriai district of the state of New York, 
and shall be called Kip’s Bay; the seven- 
teenth district shall consist" of the territory 
comprised in the fifteenth senatorial dis- 
trict of the state of New York, and shall 
be called Murray Hill; the eighteenth dis- 
trict shall consist of the territory comprised 
in the sixteenth senatorial district of the 
state of New York, and shall be called 
Chelsea; the nineteenth district shall consist 
of the territory comprised in the fifteenth 
and seventeenth assembly districts of the 
state of New York, and shall be called Hud- 
son; the twentieth district shall consist of 
the territory comprised in the eighteenth 
senatorial district of the state of New York, 
and shall be called Yorkville; the twenty- 
first district shall consist of the territory 
comprised in the nineteenth and twenty-first 
assembly districts of the state of New York, 
and shall be called Riverside; the twenty- 
second district shall consist of the territory 
comprised in the thirty-first and tw'enty- 
third assembly districts cf the state of New 
York, and shall be called Washington 
Heights; the twenty-third district shall con- 
sist of the territory comprised in the twen- 
tieth and that part of the twenty-first sena- 
torial districts of the state of New York in 
the borough of Manhattan, and shall be 
called Harlem; the twenty-fourth district 
shall consist of the territory comprised in 
the twenty-first senatorial district of the 
state of New York in the borough of the 
Bronx west of the Bronx river, and shall be 
called Morrisania; the twenty-fifth district 
shall consist of so much of the territory 
comprised in the tw'enty-second senatorial 
district of the state of New York in the city 
of New York east of the Bronx river, and 
shall be called Chester. Provided, how'ever, 
that none of the above mentioned boundaries 
shall include any portipn of a senatorial dijr 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW 


trlct not contained within the limits of the 
city. The board of aldermen may, whenever 
necessary, supplement and complete the de- 
scription of the boundaries of any district, 
but such districts shall not be affected by 
any change in the senatorial districts. 

The local board; how constituted; 

jurisdiction. 

Sec. 426. There shall be in each and every 
district of local improvements a board of 
lccal improvements to be known and de- 
scribed as "the local board," to be in- 
trusted with the powers by this act pre- 
scribed. The jurisdiction of each local 
board shall be confined to the district for 
which it is constituted, and to those subjects 
or matters the costs and expenses whereof 
are in whole or in part a charge upon the 
people or property of the district or a part 
thereof, except so far as by this act juris- 
diction may otherwise be given over matters 
of local administration within such dis- 
trict. Each local board shall consist of the 
president of the borough wherein the district 
is situated, by virtue of his office, and of 
each member of the board of aldermen who 
represents an aldermanic district within 
such local improvement district, by virtue 
of his office and during his term as such 
member. The members of the local 
board shall serve as such members 
without compensation. If any proposed 
local improvement specified in section four 
hundred and twenty-eight of this act shall 
embrace the territory or affect the property 
of more than one district of local improve- 
ments, the members of the local boards of 
all the districts so affected shall, for all 
proceedings in the matter of such improve- 
ment, constitute the local board for the pur- 
poses thereof, and its proceedings shall in 
all respects conform to the provisions of this 
act that regulate the proceedings of any 
other local board. 

Id.; procedure. 

Sec. 427. The action of a local board shall 
be by resolution, subject to the procedure 
governing resolutions passed by the board of 
aldermen and conformably thereto save that 
they need not be submitted to the mayor of 
The City of New York for his approval 
except as provided in the next section. 
Every resolution of a local board shall, be- 
fore it takes effect., be approved by the 
borough president. 

Id.; powers. 

Sec. 428. A local board, subject to the re- 
strictions provided by this act, shall have 
power in all cases where the cost of the im- 
provement is to be met in whole or in part 
by assessments upon the property benefited, 
to initiate proceedings for the following pur- 
poses: to construct tunnels and bridges 
lying wholly within the borough; to ac- 
quire title to land for parks and squares, 
streets, sewers, tunnels and bridges, and 
approaches to bridges and tunnels; to open, 
close, extend, widen, grade, pave, regrade, 
repave and repair the streets, avenues and 
public places, and to construct sewers with- 
in the district; to flag or reflag, curb or re- 
curb the sidewalks, and to relay crosswalks 
on such streets and avenues; to set or to 
reset street lamps; and to provide signs 
designating the names of the streets. All 
resolutions affecting more than one local 
improvement district or the borough gen- 
erally, shall be adopted only at a joint meet- 
ing of all the local boards of the borough, and 
by a majority of the members of said boards. 


Id.; further powers. 

Sec. 429. A local board shall have power to 
hear complaints of nuisances in streets or 
avenues, or, against disorderly houses, 
drinking saloons, conducted in violation of 
the laws regulating the traffic in liquor, 
gambling houses or any other places or con- 
gregations violative of good order or of the 
laws of this state, or other matters or things 
concerning the peace, comfort, order and 
good government respecting any neighbor- 
hood within the district, or concerning the 
condition of the poor within the district, and 
to pass such resolutions concerning the 
same a3 may not be inconsistent with the 
powers of the board of aldermen or of the 
respective administrative departments of The 
City of New York, and to aid such board of 
aldermen and departments in the discharge 
of their duties respecting the good govern- 
ment of the said district. All resolutions 
passed under the authority of this section 
shall be submitted to the mayor; and if he 
shall within ten days thereafter declare the 
same to be general in character, they shall 
be invalid; otherwise, they shall take effect 
upon the expiration of said period of ten 
days. 

Id.; meetings; secretary; quorum. 

Sec. 430. Meetings of each local board shall 
be held at the main hall or public building 
of the borough. It shall be the duty of the 
president to call such meetings whenever in 
his opinion the public business shall require, 
or whenever he shall receive the written re- 
quest of any three members of a 
local board. The secretary of the president 
of the borough shall act as the secretary of 
each local board, in the borough, without 
additional compensation. He shall keep a 
record of all resolutions, proceedings and 
determinations of each local board, and shall 
file the same in the office of the president of 
the borough, and he shall discharge such 
other duties as may be prescribed by this 
act, or by the board of aldermen, or by the 
president of the borough, or by a local 
board. The president of a local board and 
one other member thereof shall constitute 
a quorum for the transaction of business at 
any meeting duly called. 

TITLE 3. 

LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS. 
President; duty on receipt of petition. 

Sec. 432. When a petition for a local im- 
provement within the jurisdiction of a local 
board has been received by the president of 
the borough, it shall be his duty to appoint 
a time for the meeting of the proper local 
board, not more than fifteen days thereafter, 
at which meeting such petition will by him 
be submitted to the said local board, and he 
shall thereupon cause a notice to be pub- 
lished in the City Record, that such petition 
has been presented to him and is on file in 
his office for inspection, and of the time 
when and of the place where there will be a 
meeting of the local board at which 
such petition will be submitted by him, to 
said board, which time shall not be less than 
ten days after the publication of the notice. 

Locnl board; proceeding* after peti- 
tion. 

Sec. 433. The local board, after the sub- 
mission of such petition and consideration 
of the same, may then, as the petition shall 
ask, pass a resolution to bridge, to tunnel, 
to open, to close, to extend, to widen, to 
regulate, to grade, to curb, to gutter, to 
flag and to pave streets, to lay crosswalks, 
aud to construct sewers within its district, 


YORK. ‘‘ 5 J 


and generally for such other Improvements 
in and about such streets within its district 
as the public wants and convenience of tho 
district shall require. 

Id.; to transmit resolution; farther pro- 
cedure; expenses to be a lien. 

Sec. 434. If the local board shall by reso- 
lution decide that proceedings be Initiated 
for a local improvement within its jurisdic- 
tion, it shall thereupon, forthwith, transmit 
a copy of such resolution to the board of 
estimate and apportionment. Said board 
shall promptly consider such resolution, and 
approve or reject the same, and return said 
resolution if approved to the president of 
the borough where it originated, and he may 
thereupon proceed in the execution of the 
work covered by said resolution in accord- 
ance with the provisions of this act; but no 
public work or improvement, involving an 
assessment for benefit, shall be so author- 
ized until there has been presented to the 
board of estimate and apportionment an es- 
timate in waiting, in such detail as the 
board may direct, of the cost of the proposed 
work or improvement, and a statement of 
the assessed value, according to the last pre- 
ceding tax roll, of the real estate included 
within the probable area of assessment. 
The expense of all such improvements shall 
be assessed and be a lien on the property 
benefited thereby in proportion to the 
amount of said benefit; but no such work 
shall be done by the borough president on 
any item which imposes a charge upon the 
whole city of more than five hundred thous- 
and dollars, except with the approval of the 
board of aldermen. 

Local boards; power to flag sidewalks, 

etc. 

Sec. 435. A local board shall have the 
power to cause the flagging or reflagging of 
sidewalks, laying or relaying of crosswalks, 
fencing vacant lots, digging down lots or 
filling in sunken lots within its district, by 
resolution approved by the board of estimate 
and apportionment; provided, however, that 
when the expenses to be incurred by any one 
such resolution shall not exceed the sum of 
two thousand dollars, the approval of the 
board of estimate and apportionment shall 
not be necessary. When such public work 
or improvement shall have been duly author- 
ized, the president of the borough within 
which such work is to be done shall proceed 
forthwith in the execution thereof. 

Power to assess for local improve- 
ments. 

Sec. 436. In all cases where the board of 
estimate and apportionment or the board of 
aldermen or the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment, and the board of aldermen to- 
gether, with or without the concurrence or 
approval of any other board or officer, are 
authorized to determine that a local im- 
provement is to be made, the said board of 
estimate and apportionment or the said 
board of aldermen, or both, as the case may 
be, shall determine whether any, and if any, 
v.hat proportion, of the cost and expense 
thereof shall be borne and paid by The City 
of New York, and the remainder of such cost 
and expense shall be assessed upon the prop- 
erty deemed to be benefited thereby; and the 
assessment shall be laid and confirmed and 
collected in accordance with the provisions 
of chapter seventeen of this act. The deter- 
mination or decision of such board ae to the 
proportion of cost and expense to be borne 
and paid by The City of New York, and as 
to the proportion to be borne by the prop- 
erty benefited, after it shall have been made . 
and announced, shall he final, an 'i such de- 


52 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


termination or decision shall not be re- 
opened or reconsidered by said board. The 
words “local improvement” as used in this 
section shall be construed to mean any work 
the payment of which was, prior to the pas- 
sage of this act, provided for by the laws 
in force in the territory of the corporation 
formerly known as the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of the city of New York, In 
whole or in part, by assessment upon the 
property deemed to be benefited thereby or 
the owners thereof, other than assessments 
which are confirmed by a court of record. 
Construction of this title. 

Sec. 437. Nothing in this title contained 
shall be construed to in any way limit the 
power of the board of aldermen in author- 
izing any public improvement. 

TITLE 4. 

THE MAP OR PLAN OF THE CITY OF 

NEW YORK, ESTABLISHING OF 

GRADES. CHANGES THEREIN, MAP 

OF SEWER SYSTEM, AND SEWER 

DISTRICTS, 

The mop of The City of New York. 

Sec. 438. The map or plan of the terri- 
tory lying within the borough of Man- 
hattan, as heretofore laid out, adopted and 
established by the municipal authorities of 
the corporation known as the mayor, aider- 
men and commonalty of the city of New 
York, and the map or plan of that part of the 
territory lying within the borough of Tlie 
Bronx, laid out by the commissioner of 
street improvements of the twenty-third and 
twenty-fourth wards pursuant to chapter 
five hundred and forty-five of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and ninety, and the acts 
amendatory thereof, as heretofore duly laid 
out, adopted and established by such com- 
missioner, with the concurrence and approv- 
al of the board of street opening and im- 
provements pursuant to law, and the map 
or plan of so much of the territory laying 
within the borough of Brooklyn, for which 
a permanent map or plan has been adopted, 
as heretofore duly laid out. adopted and es- 
tablished by the proper municipal authori- 
ties, and the map or plan of so much of the 
territory lying within the borough of Queens, 
for which a permanent map or plan has been 
adopted by the proper municipal authorities 
of Long Island City, as so laid out, adopted 
and established, showing the parks, streets, 
bridges and tunnels, and approaches to bridges 
and tunnele.as heretofore laid out, adopted and 
established pursuant to law, and the maps 
and profiles included in or accompanying the 
same, showing the grades of such streets 
duly fixed, adopted and established, shall 
constitute the map or plan of The City of 
New York to the oxtent and so far as they 
cover the territory lying wUhin the said 
city, and as such is hereby laid out, adopted, 
established ana confirmed is to be 
deemed final and conclusive with respect to 
the location, width and grades of the streets 
shown Uiereon, so far as such location, width 
and grades have neen hereioiore duly adopt- 
ed, except as herein otherwise provided. 

Map to be completed. 

Sec. 439. It shall be the duty of the pres- 
ident of each borough comprised within The 
City o&,New York, as constituted by this act, 
subject to the limitations hereinafter pro- 
vided, to prepare a map of that part of the 
territory embraced within the borough of 
which he is president, of which a map or 
plan has not heretofore been finally estab- 
lished and adopted, as set forth in section 


four hundred and thirty-eight of this act, 
locating and laying out all parks, streets, 
bridges, tunnels and approaches to bridges 
and tunnels, and indicating the width and 
grades of all such streets so located and laid 
out. It shall be the duty of the president of 
each borough under the direction of the 
mayor to continue and complete the system 
of exact triangulation inaugurated in the 
borough of The Bronx, over that part of the 
borough of which he shall be president, 
of which no map or plan has heretofore 
been established and approved, provided that 
such system of triangulation, after the most 
approved and exact method, s' 1 be finished 
before the first day of January, nineteen 
hundred and seven. The duty of con- 
ducting such system of triangulation 
shall be entrusted only to a civil 
engineer who shall have had at least five 
years’ experience in the method and manner 
of precise surveying, and whose fitness and 
competency shall have been determined in a 
civil service examination, or with the con- 
sent of the mayor, to such civil engineer 
or other expert as may be designated by the 
superintendent of the United States coast and 
geodetic survey, or other proper officer of 
the United States. The mayor with the ap- 
proval of the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment shall have power to enter into a 
contract or agreement with the proper repre- 
sentative of the United States so that The 
City of New York may be able to avail itself 
of the aid and assistance of the United States 
coast and geodetic survey in making an exact 
trianguation of the territory embraced within 
the boundaries of The City of New York. The 
mayor with the approval of the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment shall have power 
to employ such persons to assist in the work 
as they may deem necessary and to pay such 
sums as may be reasonable and necessary 
for their services and subsistence and for rea- 
sonable and necessary expenses, but not to 
exceed the sum of fifteen thousand dollars in 
any one year. The comptroller is authorized 
and directed to issue special revenue bonds 
not to exceed said amount in any one year 
upon the request of the board of estimate and 
apportionment in order to provide the means 
to make the payments thus authorized. The 
said civil engineer or other expert shall pre- 
pare and furnish, for primary stations, the 
latitude and longitude determined in con- 
formity with the method used by the United 
States coast and geodetic survey; for second- 
ary stations, the rectangular spherical co- 
ordinates; and for all stations, rectangular 
co-ordinates referred to a given fixed central 
meridian, or assumed meridian. Such co-or- 
dinates shall be official and binding upon all 
officers making any map or plan relating 
to any borough or part thereof. Whenever 
and as often as the president of any borough 
shall have completed the map of a part of 
the territory aforesaid, he shall report the 
same together with the surveys, maps and 
profiles, showing the parks, streets, bridges, 
tunnels, and approaches to bridges and tun- 
nels, located and laid out by him, and the 
grades thereof, to the board of estimate and 
apportionment for its concurrence and ap- 
proval, subject, nevertheless, to such correc- 
tions or modifications as in the judgment of 
the majority of said board may be advisable; 
and the said board thereafter shall cause such 
map or plan, and such profiles, as finally 
adopted by it, to be certified by the presi- 
dent and secretary of said board, and filed as 
follows: One copy thereof in the office in 
which conveyances of real estate are required 
to be recorded in the county in which the 
territory shown upon such map is located; 


one copy thereof, in the office of the corpo- 
ration counsel, and one copy thereof in the 
office of the president of the borough, who 
shall have prepared such map. Such map 
and profiles, when so adopted and filed, shall 
become a part of the map or plan of The 
City of New York, and shall be deemed to 
be final and conclusive with respect to the lo- 
cation, width and grades of the streets shown 
thereon, and the same shall not be subject 
to any further change or modification ex- 
cept as provided in section four hundred and 
ferty-two of this act; provided, however, that 
local boards at a joint meeting of all the 
boards comprised within the borough for 
which said map was adopted, within three 
months after the opening of a street, shall 
have the power to alter the grade of such 
street, and to alter the grades of intersecting 
streets, so far as it may be necessary to con- 
form the same to new grades of the street 
opened. — As amended by Laws of 1903, Chap- 
ter 406. 

Prcsitlent may be required to complete 

map. 

Sec. 440. The board of estimate and appor- 
tionment, with the approval of the mayor, 
may at any time require the president of any 
borough to complete the map or plan of the 
whole or of a part of the territory for which 
the map or plan shall not at such time have 
been finally established and adopted as spe- 
cified in sections four hundred and thirty- 
eight and four hundred and thirty-nine of 
this act, and to report the same to the board 
of estimate and apportionment within a fixed 
and specified time. 

Grndes established by nscr. 

Sec. 441. Whenever any street in The City 
of New York shall have been used as such for 
upwards of twenty years without having the 
grade thereof established by law, the level 
or surface of such street as so used shall be 
deemed to be and to have been the grade 
thereof. 

Authority to change tlie map or plan 

of the city or to change grades. 

Sec. 442. The board of estimate and appor- 
tionment is authorized and empowered, when- 
ever and as often as it may deem it for the 
public interest so to do, to change the 
map or plan of The City of New York, 
so as to lay out new streets, parks, bridges, 
tunnels and approaches to bridges and tun- 
nels and parks, and to widen, straighten, ex- 
tend, alter and close existing streets, and to 
change the grade of existing streets shown 
upon such map or plan, by publishing notice 
of its proposed action for ten days, in the 
City Record and the corporation newspapers, 
and giving an opportunity for all persons in- 
terested iu such change to be heard, at a 
time and place to be specified in such notice, 
such time to be not less than ten days after 
the finst publication of such notice. After 
the due publication of such notice, and after 
hearing protests and objections, if any there 
be, against the proposed change, if the said 
board shall favor such change, notwithstand- 
ing such protests and objections, and the 
same receives the approval of the mayor, such 
change in the map or plan of The City of 
New York, or in the grade of any street or 
streets shown thereon, shall be deemed to 
have been made. — As amended by Laws of 
1903, Chapter 409. 

Maim of city to be kept in office of 

corporation counsel and office of bor- 
ough presidents; maps showing 

changes where tiled. 

Sec. 443. The map or plan of The City of 
New York or a certified copy thereof, show- 
ing the streets and parks within The City ol 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


53 


New York as constituted by this act, shall be 
kept, one copy thereof In the office of the 
corporation counsel and one copy thereof, 
so far as the same shall apply to any one 
borough, in the office of the borough president 
of such borough. Whenever the map or plan 
of The City of New York, as heretofore laid 
out, adopted, established and confirmed by 
this act, or as hereafter laid out, adopted 
and established pursuant to this act, shall be 
changed, and whenever, the grade of any 
street shown thereon shall be changed, the 
board of estimate and apportiopment shall 
forthwith cause the maps and profiles, show- 
ing such change in the map or plan of The 
City of New York, or in the grade of a street 
or streets shown thereon, to be certified by 
the secretary of said board and filed as fol- 
lows: One copy thereof in the office in which 
the conveyances of real estate are required 
to be recorded in the county in which the 
territory shown upon said copy is located; 
one copy thereof in the office of the corpora- 
tion counsel and one copy thereof, so far as 
the same shall apply to any one borough, in 
the office of the president of such borough. 

Drainage and sewer system to be coni- 

pleted. 

Sec. 444. It shall be the duty of the said 
president of each borough, subject to the ap- 
proval of the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment, to devise and prepare, so far as the 
same has not already been done, a plan for 
the proper sewerage and drainage of the Bor- 
ough of which he is president, for the pur- 
pose of thoroughly draining and carrying off 
water and other matter proper to be carried 
off by sewers. The president of the borough 
of Brooklyn and president of the borough of 
Queens shall confer as to such part of such 
plan for each borough as shall adjoin the 
other, and shall endeavor to make said plans 
harmonize with each other so far as may 
be. The said president of each borough shall, 
so far as the same has not already been done, 
and subject to the like approval, lay out the 
borough of which he is president, into as 
many sewerage districts as he may deem 
necessary for the aforesaid purpose, and shall 
also determine and show, on suitable maps 
or plans, the mcation, course, size and 
grade of each sewer and drain pro- 
posed for each oT said districts, and the 
proposed alterations and improvements in 
existing sewers, and shall also determine 
and ehow, on said maps or plans, the con- 
templated depth of said sewers and drains 
below the present surface, and also below the 
established grades of the streets and ave- 
nues in each of said districts, and euch 
other particulars as may be necessary for 
the purpose of exhibiting a complete plan of 
the proposed sewerage therein. 

Drainage plan to be filed. 

Sec. 445. Upon the completion of the map 
or plan for the drainage of any sewerage dis- 
trict and its approval by the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment, such map or plan 
shall be the permanent plan for the sewer- 
age of such district; subject, however, to 
such subsequent modifications as may, in 
the opinion of the president of the borough 
to which said plan shall apply, and the 
beard of estimate and apportionment, be- 
come necessary in consequence of alter- 
ations made in the location or grade of any 
street or part thereof in said district, or for 
other reasons. Copies of such complete map 
or plan and of the maps showing modifica- 
tions therein shall be certified by the mayor 
and the secretary of the board of estimate 
and apportionment and shall be filed as fol- 


lows: One copy thereof in the office in which 
conveyances of real estate are required to 
bo recorded in the county in which the terri- 
tory shown upon said map is located; one 
copy thereof in the office of the corporation 
counsel, and one copy thereof in the office 
of the president of the borough to which said 
plan applies. 

All sewers to be in accordance with 

general plan. 

Sec. 446. It shall not be lawful hereafter 
to construct any sewer or drain in the city 
unless such eewer or drain shall be in ac- 
cordance with the general plan, approved as 
aforesaid, for the sewerage of the par- 
ticular district in which such sewer or 
drain is proposed to be constructed. 

Raising of grade for drainage. 

Sec. 447. Whenever the president of any 
borough shall determine that it is necessary 
to raise the grade of any street or streets 
for the proper sewerage of the sewer dis- 
trict in which such street or streets, or parte 
of streets, are situated, the said president 
shall prepare a plan showing said proposed 
change of grade, and shall present the same 
to the board of estimate and apportionment, 
which said board is hereby authorized and 
empowered to change the grade of such 
street or streets, or parts of streets, so far 
as shall be necessary for the proper drain- 
age thereof in .accordance with said plan. 

Power to mark boundaries and to 

make surveys. 

Sec. 448. The mayor shall have power to 
direct the president of any borough to mark 
any boundary line or lines of the municipal 
corporation constituted by this act and 
known as The City of New York, as said 
boundary line or lines is or are determined 
in and by this act, so as to distinguish and 
define the boundaries of said city, the bound- 
aries of the boroughs thereof, and any other 
boundary line or lines determined in and 
by this act, by such monuments as may be 
authorized by the mayor. The president of 
any borough shall upon the request of the 
board of aldermen, of a local board, of com- 
missioners of estimate, or of commissioners 
of estimate and assessments, furnish surveys, 
diagrams or other information as may en- 
able them to fully discharge the duties im- 
posed upon them by this act relative to 
street and park improvements. It shall be 
lawful for the president of any borough, ana 
all persons acting under his authority, to 
enter in the day time into and upon any 
lands, tenements and hereditaments and 
waters which he shall deem necessary to be 
surveyed, used or converted for the layiDg 
out, surveying and monumenting of parks, 
streets, bridges, tunnels, and approaches 
to bridges and tunnels, in The City of New 
York, or for marking any boundary line or 
lines. 

President to appoint snrveyor; appro- 
priations to be made for maps, etc. 

Sec. 449. The president of each borough 
shall have power to appoint a surveyor or 
engineer who shall have the custody of the 
maps filed in the office of the president of 
said borough. There shall be made in the 
final estimate each year such provisions or 
appropriations as may be necessary for the 
preparation and making of maps, plans and 
profiles, and for the setting of monuments. 


CHAPTEE XI. 

DEPARTMENTS OF WATER SUPPLY, 
GAS AND ELECTRICITY, STREET 
CLEANING AND BRIDGES. 

Title 1. General provisions. 

Title 2. Department of water supply, ga« 
and electricity. 

Title 3. Department of street cleaning. 

Title 4. Department of bridges. 

— - TITLE I. 

GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

Heads of departments. 

Sec. 450. Each of the commissioners here- 
inafter provided for in this chapter shall 
in all respects adaninister his department 
in conformity with the ordinances of the 
board of aldermen relating thereto, and each 
shall be vested with the sole executive power 
in his department, and be subject to the 
laws of the state and the ordinances of the 
city for the conduct and the work of his de- 
partment. 

Deputies. 

Sec. 452. The commissioner at the head of 
each of said departments may appoint one 
deputy commissioner who shall be located at 
the main office of such department and there 
may be a deputy in each borough in which 
is located a branch office of such department, 
if provision is made therefor by the board of 
estimate and apportionment and the board of 
aldermen. A deputy commissioner located 
at a branch office shall, under the direction 
and control of the commissioner appointing 
him, have charge of the office work of his 
department in the borough or boroughs for 
which the office was established, and of the 
execution of all work devolved upon his de- 
partment therein. The commlss;"ner at the 
head of each of said departments may des- 
ignate one or more of said deputies, who 
shall, in addition to his other powers, possess 
every power and perform all and every duty 
belonging to the office of such commissioner, 
so far as specified in such designation, 
whenever so empowered by such commis- 
sioner by written authority, designating 
therein a period of time, not extending be- 
yond a period of three months nor beyond 
the term of office of such commissioner, 
during which such power and duty may be 
exercised, and such designation and author- 
ity shall be duly filed in and remain of rec- 
ord In said department, but may be revoked 
at any time. A deputy commissioner so 
designated shall possess the like authority 
in case of absence or disability of such com- 
missioner. 

Engineers. 

Sec. 453. The conn ^--•vner at the head of 
each of said departments, excepting the de- 
partment of street cleaning, may appoint 
and at pleasure remove a chief engineer of 
his department, with power to appoint, re- 
move, and detail a staff of assistant engin- 
eers. If the commissioner of any depart- 
ment deem it advisable that more than one 
chief engineer be appointed for such depart- 
ment, such commissioner, when authorized 
by the board of estimate and apportionment 
and the board of aldermen, may appoint such 
additional chief engineers, each with power 
to appoint and remove at pleasure, and de- 
tail a staff of assistant engineers. All chief 
engineers and assistant engineers appoint- 
ed by them respectively, must be civil en- 
gineers of at least ten years, experience. 
An engineer located at a branch office of hl» 
department in any borough may be ap- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 


54 ’ 


pointed a deputy commissioner for the 
borongh or boroughs to which he Is 
assigned. An assistant engineer who has 
been appointed a deputy commissioner may 
be designated as the engineer for the bor- 
ough in which he acts as deputy. Any 
engineer may be designated by such title as 
shall properly describe his principal duties in 
the judgment of the head of his department. 

Consulting engineers. 

Sec. 455. The commissioner of bridges may 
at any time employ, when thereto authorized 
by the board of estimate and apportionment 
and the board of aldermen, a consulting en-J 
gineer, who shall be a recognized expert in 
bridge construction, and who shall have had 
not less than fifteen years’ experience as a 
civil engineer. The commissioner of water 
supply, ga3 and electricity may at any time 
employ, when thereto authorized by the 
board of estimate and apportionment and the 
board of aldermen, a consulting hydraulic 
engineer to his department of at least fifteen 
years’ experience as a civil engineer, and a 
consulting engineer of lighting and electrici- 
ty to his department, who shall be an expert 
in all matters relating to lighting and elec- 
tricity, and whose training shall also have 
included instruction in the capacity of civil 
engineer. 

Commissioners; power to appoint, etc. 

Sec. 459. If the commissioners of two or 
more departments named in this chapter 
shall at any time determine that the duties 
of the chief engineer or the deputy commis- 
sioner in each of said two or more depart- 
ments in and for any borough can be ade- 
quately performed by one and the same per- 
son, then it shall be lawful for said commis- 
sioners, each acting in his department, to ap- 
point the same individual as chief engineer 
or deputy commissioner, or both, of such de- 
partments for any of said boroughs; such ap- 
pointment as chief engineer may be revoked 
by the proper commissioner or commissioners, 
respectively, as to all but one department. 

Transfer of employes from borongh to 

borough and from department to de- 
partment. 

Sec. 460. Nothing in this act contained 
shall be construed to limit in any way the 
power of the commissioner at the head of 
any one of the departments named in this 
chapter to transfer any employe or employes 
from the office of his department located in 
one borough to the office of his department 
in any other borough. 

Transfer of appropriations. 

Sec. 461. No appropriation to any one - of 
the departments named in this chapter, 
which is specifically appropriated to be used 
in one, borough shall be transferred for ex- 
penditure in any other borough by the board 
of estimate and apportionment, except with 
the consent of the president of the borough 
from which the transfer is to be made; but 
if any public work within the cognizance 
arid control of any one of said commission- 
ers must be executed in more than one bor- 
ough he may, in his discretion, direct that 
said work shall be done through the joint 
forces of his department in the boroughs af- 
fected, or he may execute such- -work with 
the foroe of bis central office. 

Definition of word “street.” 

Sec. 462. Whenever the word “street,” or 
the plural thereof, occurs in this chapter, it 
shall be deemed to include all that is in- 
cluded by the term “street, avenue, road, 
alley, lane, highway, boulevard, concourse, 
public square- and public place,'” or the 
olurnl? thereof r— n ’••ti . ’ 


TITLE 2. 

DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY, 
GAS AND ELECTRICITY. 
Commissioner of water supply, gas and 

electricity; appointment; salary. 

Sec. 468. The head of the department of 
water supply, gas and electricity shall be 
called the commissioner of water supply, gas 
and electricity. He shall be appointed by 
the mayor and hold office as provided in 
chapter four of this act. His salary shall 
be seven thousand five hundred dollars a 
year. The main office of the department 
shall be located in the borough of Manhat- 
tan. A branch office shall be located in the 
borough of Brooklyn, and branch offices may 
be located in the borough of the Bronx, the 
borough of Queens and the borough of Rich- 
mond, respectively.— As amended by Laws of 
1902, Chapter 589. 

Id.; jurisdiction. 

Sec. 469. The commissioner of water sup- 
ply, Sas and electricity shall have cognizance 
and control: 

1. Of all structures and property con- 
nected with the supply and distribution of 
water for public use, except the same shall 
be owned by private corporations, including 
all fire and drinking hydrants and all water 
meters. 

2. Of maintaining the quality of the 
water supply, and of the Investigation for, 
and the construction of all work necessary 
to deliver the proper and required quantity 
pf water with ample reserve for contin- 
gencies and future demands. 

3. Of the collection of the revenues from 
the sale or use of water from the public 
water supply. 

4. Of the enforcing of the regulations con- 
cerning the use of water, and of recom- 
mending to the board of aldermen proposed 
ordinances relating to any of the matters 
within the province of his department. 

5. Of the making and performance of con- 
tracts when duly authorized in accord with 
the provisions of this act, and for the ex- 
ecution of the same in the matter of furnish- 
ing the city, or any part thereof, with gas, 
electricity or any other illuminant or of 
steam; of the selecting, locating and remov- 
ing and changing of lights for the use of the 
city; of the inspecting and testing of gas 
and electricity used for light, heating and 
power purposes, electric meters, electric 
wires and of all lights furnished to said city 
and of the use and transmission of gas, 
electricity, pneumatic power and steam for 
all purposes in, upon, across, over and under 
all streets, roads, avenues, parks, public 
places and public buildings; of the con- 
struction of electric mains, conduits, con- 
ductors, and subways in any such streets, 
roads, avenues, parks and public places, and 
the granting of the permission to open 
streets, when approved by the borough pres- 
ident, and to open the same for the purpose 
of carrying on therein the business of trans- 
mitting, conducting, using and selling elec- 
tricity, steam, or for the service of pneu- 
matic tubes. This section shall not be con- 
strued to empower the said commissioner 
to grant permission to open or use the 
streets except by person* er corporations 
otherwise duly authorized to carry on Busi- 
ness of the character above specified. 

Id.; power when more than one bor- 
ough Involved. 

Sec. 470. If any of the public work within 
the cognizance and control of the said com- 
Uii.isi ' supply. a._d electrici- 


ty must be executed entirely outside of the 
city limits, he may direct that such work 
be done by any of his force as may seem to 
him most advantageous. 

Id.; restriction on power to contract. 

Sec. 471. It shall not be lawful for the 
commissioner of water supply, gas and elec- 
tricity to enter into any contract -whatever 
with any person or corporation engaged in 
the business of supplying or selling water 
for private or public use and con- 
sumption, unless preliminary to the 
execution of the contract, the assent pf 
the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment, together with the separate written 
consent and approval of both the mayor and 
the comptroller of The City of New York of 
the proposed contract in all its details, 
shall be given by resolution to the execution 
of such contract as submitted, and it shall 
not be lawful for the said city of New York 
or for any department thereof, to make any 
contract touching or concerning the public 
water supply, and especially the increase 
thereof, with any person or corporation 
whatsoever, save in accordance with the 
provisions and requirements of this act, 
which said provisions and requirements are 
hereby declared to establish the exclusive 
rule for the making of such contracts. All 
proceedings relating to the making or ap- 
proval of any such contract may be reviewed 
by the appellate division of the supreme 
court in the first or second department on 
the application of any resident taxpayer. 

Id.; power to determine source of 

water supply; condemnation prd- 

ceedlngs, etc. 

Sec. 472. The commissioner of water sup- 
ply, gas and electricity, with the approval 
of the board of estimate and apportionment, 
shall have power within and throughout the 
state of New York, to select and to deter- 
mine all sources of water supply that may be 
needed for the supply of the public water- 
works of said city, and for the supply and 
distribution of water in said city. Any 
sources of water so selected and deter- 
mined by him shall be deemed necessary for 
the public use of The City of New York, 
and thereupon, with the approval of the 
board of estimate and apportionment, to- 
gether with the authority of the board of 
aldermen expressed by its resolution or or- 
dinance, it shall be lawful for The City of 
New York jto acquire by condemnation any 
real estate or any interest therein that may 
be necessary in order to acquire the sole and 
exclusive property in such source or sources 
of water supply, and to wholly extinguish 
the water rights of any other person or cor- 
poration therein, with the right to lay, 
relay, repair and maintain aqueducts, con- 
duits and water pipes with the connections 
and fixtures on the lands of others, and, if 
necessary, to acquire by condemnation lands 
for such purpose in any county or counties 
through which it may be necessary to pass 
in conducting such waters to The City of 
New York; the right to intercept and to 
direct the flow of water from lands of ri- 
parian owners, and from persons owning or 
interested in any water, and the right to 
prevent the flow or drainage of noxious or 
lmpare matters from the lands of others into 
fts reservoirs or sources of supply, provided 
that it shall not have power to acquire or to 
extinguish the property rights of any person 
or corporation in or to any water riehts that 
at the time of the initiation of proceedings 
for condemnation are in actual use for the 
supply of the water works of the people 
Ji any •/..! . cKy, t„..u Or vi,...jO 


THE CHARTER OF THE CiTV OF NEW NOfcK. 


Of the state, or for the supply and 
distribution of waters to the people thereof; 
or which In the opinion of the court on ouch 
proceedings may reasonably become neces- 
sary for such supply or to take or use the 
water from any of the canals of the state, any 
canal reservoirs, or waters used exclusively 
as feeders for canals, or from any of the 
streams acquired by the state for supplying 
the canals with water. It shall be the duty 
of the corporation counsel to take the neces- 
sary legal proceedings, as provided in this 
act, for such improvement, upon the request 
In writing of the said commissioner of water 
supply. In the ascertainment of the com- 
pensation for any property or property rights 
so acquired, such compensation shall be 
based upon the actual values of the property 
or the interest acquired therein at the time 
of Its taking, and there shall not be taken 
into consideration any prospective or specu- 
lative value, based upon the possible, prob- 
able or actual future use of such property, or 
property rights, if the same had not been ac- 
quired by the said city of New York for the 
public use. The commissioner of water sup- 
ply, gas and electricity is hereby authorized 
to examine Into the sources of water supply 
of any private companies supplying The City 
of New York or any portion thereof or its 
inhabitants with water, to see that the same 
Is wholesome and the supply is adequate, and 
to establish such rules and regulations in 
respect thereof as are reasonable and neces- 
sary for the convenience of the public and 
the citizens; and the said commissioner may 
exercise superintendence, regulation and con- 
trol in respect of the supply of water by such 
water companies, including rates, fares and 
charges to be made therefor, except that such 
rates, fares and charges shall not, without 
the consent of the grantee, be reduced by 
the said commissioner beyond what is just 
and reasonable; and in case of a controversy, 
the question of what is just and reasonable 
shall be finally determined as a Judicial ques- 
tion on its merits by a court of competent 
jurisdiction. The City of New York 1* au- 
thorized to acquire by purchase, lease, or 
otherwise, lands or water In any other state, 
or rights, interests, or privilege* in, to or 
over any lands or water In any other state 
for the purpose of supplying water to The 
City of New York. Nothing in this section 
contained shall be deemed in any manner to 
limit the rights, property rights, power or 
Jurisdiction now possessed by The City of 
New York in relation to the possession, main- 
tenance, operation or completion of its pres- 
ent water system. 

Board of aldermen t power to fix water 

rents. 

Sec. 473. The board of aldermen shall 
hereafter have all power, on recommenda- 
tion of the commissioner of water supply, 
gas and electricity, to fix and establish 
a uniform scale of rents, and charges for 
supplying water by the city of New' York, 
which shall be apportioned to different 
classes of buildings in said city in reference 
to their dimensions, value, exposures to 
fires, ordinary uses for dwellings, stores, 
shops, private stables and other common 
purposes, number of families or occupants, 
or consumption of water, as near as may be 
practicable, and modify, alter, amend and 
increase such scale from time to time, and 
to extend it to other descriptions of build- 
ings and establishments. All extra charges 
for water shall be deemed to be included 
in the regular rents, which shall become 
a charge and lien upon ♦ lie? buildit'<-s uron 
w.j.c.i . r- ■ t >vi 


not paid, shall be returned as arrears to the 
collector of assessments and arrears. Such 
regular rents. Including the extra charges 
above mentioned, shall be collected from the 
owmers or occupants of all such buildings, 
respectively, which shall be situated upon 
lots adjoining any street or avenue in said 
city in which the distributing water pipes 
are or may be laid, and from which they can 
be supplied with water. Said rents, includ- 
ing the extra charges aforesaid, shall become 
a charge and lien upon such houses and 
lots, respectively, as herein provided, but no 
charge whatever shall be made against any 
building in which a water meter may have 
been or shall be placed as provided in this 
act. In all such cases in which a water 
meter may have been or shall be placed in 
any building as provided in this act, except 
as hereinafter provided, the charge for water 
shall be determined only by the quantity of 
water actually used, as shown by said meters, 
provided, however, that for no store, storage 
warehouse, work-shop, hotel, manufactory, 
office building, public edifice, wharf, ferry- 
house, stable or place in which water is 
furnished for business consumption, shall 
the charge for water be less than the rate 
which would be apportioned to such build- 
ing or buildings, if a water meter had not 
been placed therein, and that the minimum 
charge in the case of every store, storage 
warehouse, work-shop, hotel, manufactory, 
office building, public edifice, wharf, ferry- 
house, stable and place in which water is 
furnished for business consumption, shall be 
not less than the amount which such build- 
ing or place would pay if charged a frontage 
rate or rental. — As amended by Laws of 1902, 
Chapter 509. 

Commissioner; power to contract for 
water supply for the twenty-fourth 
ward; duty* In relation to. 

Sec. 474. The commissioner of water sup- 
ply, gas and electricity is authorized, on 
behalf of The City of New York, with the 
preliminary consent of the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment, to contract from 
time to time with the city of Yonkers, or 
the board of water commissioners of the 
City of Yonkers for a supply of whole- 
some water for the twenty-fourth ward 
and other parts of the borough of Tho 
Bronx, from the water-works or water 
belonging to them or under their charge 
and control, for such time, in such quan- 
tities, and at such places as may be 
agreed upon by them. The said commis- 
sioner is authorized and directed to pro- 
cure, purchase and lay, provide and make 
ready for use, from time to time, so many 
mains and pipes and other means and appli- 
ances, and erect so many hydrants as may 
be necessary and sufficient to distribute and 
supply the water so procured under con- 
tract with the city of Yonkers to and 
through said twenty-fourth ward, or such 
part of it as may require or be i= need 
of the same, and which cannot be. or in his 
judgment ought not to be supplied from the 
Croton water-works, and to purchase, pro- 
vide, do, and perform all things necessary 
or proper to enable the said twenty-fourth 
ward, or said part, and the inhabitants 
thereof, to obtain and have an abundant 
supply of water at all times, and for such 
purpose, in case of necessity or conveni- 
ence, to arrange and agree with the owner 
of lands in said ward for an Irrevocable 
license or permission to enter upon, lay, 
repair, keep in order, protect, and maintain 
trains. pipes, conduits and hydrants in. 


55 


aldermen is authorized to fix, and from tide 
to time alter, on the recommendation of 
the said commissioner, special rates or 
charges for water supplied to any house or 
building, or to any other erection or struc- 
ture, in said twenty-fourth ward, including 
washers and hydrants, and to make such 
arrangements and rules as may be proper to 
ascertain the quantity of water used therein, 
oi by means thereof, and such rates and 
charges shall be a lien until paid upon the 
lands upon which such house, building, or 
ether erection or structure may stand or be 
situated, and shall be collectible at the same 
time and In the same manner, including sales 
for unpaid taxes, as the ordinary tax imposed 
on the same lands. 

Meters. 

Sec. 475. The commissioner of water sup- 
ply is authorized, in his discretion, to cause 
water-meters, the pattern and price of which 
shall be approved by the board of aldermen, 
to be placed in all stores, workshops, hotels, 
manufactories, office buildings, public edi- 
fices, at wharves, ferry-houses, stables, and 
in all places in which water is furnished 
for business consumption, and, if author- 
ized thereto by resolution or ordinance of 
the board of aldermen, In all apartment 
houses, tenements, flat houses and private 
dwellings, so that all water so furnished 
therein or thereat may be measured and 
known by the said department, and for the 
purpose of ascertaining the ratable portion 
which consumers of water should pay for 
the water therein or thereat received and 
used. Thereafter, as shall be determined 
by the commissioner of water supply, the 
said department shall make out all bills and 
charges for water furnished by them to each 
and every consumer as aforesaid, to whose 
consumption a meter as aforesaid is affixed 
in ratable proportion to the water consumed, 
as ascertained by the meter on his or her 
premises or places occupied or used as afore- 
said. All expenses of meters, their connec- 
tions and setting, water rates and other 
lawful charges for the supply of water shall 
be a lien upon the premises where such 
water is supplied as now provided by law. 
Nothing herein contained shall be construed 
so as to remit or prevent the due collection 
of arrearages or charges for water consump- 
tion heretofore Ihcurred, nor interfere with 
the proper liens therefor, nor of charges, 
or rates, or liens hereafter to be incurred 
for water consumption in any dwelling- 
house, building, or place which may not con- 
tain one of the meters aforesaid. The 
moneys collected for expenses o'f meters, 
their connections and settings, shall be ap- 
plied by the commissioner of w*ater supply 
to the payment of expenses incurred in pro- 
curing, connecting and setting said meters. 

Additional charge for non-payment of 

rent. 

Sec. 476. The annual rents which are not 
paid to fhe department of water supply be- 
fore the first day of August In each year shall 
be subject to an additional charge of five 
per centum, and those rates not paid before 
the first day of November in each year shall 
be subject to a further additional charge of 
ten per centum. 

No valve, etc., to be aseil with royalty. 

Sec. 477. No patent hydrant, valve or stop- 
cock shall be used by the department of 
water supply unless the patentee or owner of 
said patent shall allow the use of the patent 

>.j .ill ; .a 


i. 


. . v 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


56 


Printed notice of rules and regula- 
tions. 

Sec. 478. The rules and restrictions for the 
use of the water printed on each permit shall 
be notice to the water takers, and shall au- 
thorize the exaction and recovery by process 
of law of any penalties which may be im- 
posed in addition to cutting off the use of the 
water for any violations of the rules, and 
this section shall be printed on such permits. 

Commissioner! duty In regard to 

sources of water supply and property 

of department. 

Sec. 479. The commissioner of water supply, 
gas and electricity is charged with the pres- 
ervation of all lakes and all waters from 
which a water supply is drawn by the city, 
with the preservation of the banks of and 
of any river or other body of water from 
which the water supply is drawn, from in- 
jury or nuisance, and with the execution of 
such measures as may be necessary to pre- 
serve and increase the quantity of water and 
keep it pure and wholesome and free from 
contamination and pollution, with the man- 
agement, preservation and repairs of the 
dams, gates, aqueducts, bridges, water 
towere, reservoirs, mains, pipes, pipeyard, 
and property of every description belonging 
to the water-works, and shall have the con- 
struction of such new works and the pur- 
chase and laying down of such mains and 
pipes as may be authorized in accordance 
with law. The department of water supply, 
gas and electricity shall be responsible for 
the supply of water and the good order and 
security of all the water-works, for the ex- 
actness and durability of the structures 
which may be erected, and for the daily work 
to be performed and for the sufficiency of 
the supply in the pipeyards to meet every 
casualty, and for the fidelity, care and at- 
tention of all persons employed by the de- 
partment in watching the works, and in 
making constructions and repairs. 

Assessment on lands nsed as reser- 
voirs. 

Sec. 480. The lands heretofore taken or to 
be taken for storage, reservoirs, or for other 
constructions necessary for the introduction 
and maintenance of a sufficient supply of 
water in the city, or for the purpose of pre- 
venting contamination or pollution, shall be 
assessed and taxed in the counties in which 
they are or may be located, in the manner 
prescribed by law, exclusive of the. aqueducts. 
But nothing in this section contained shall 
prevent the assessors in the county of Nas- 
sau from assessing the pumping stations, 
and buildings located in such county. 

Certain acts misdemeanors. 

Sec. 481. It shall not be lawful for any per- 
son’ to throw or deposit, or cause to bo 
thrown or deposited in any lake, pond or 
stream, or In any aqueduct from or through 
which any part of the water supply of The 
City of New York shall be drawn, or either 
of the reservoirs, any dead animal or other 
offensive matter, or anything whatever. Any 
person offending against the provisions of this 
section shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and upon conviction thereof shall 
be punished by a fine or imprisonment, or 
both, in the discretion of the court. Such 
fine not to exceed the sum of one hundred 
dollars, and such imprisonment not to ex- 
ceed a period of three months. Such im- 
prisonment to be in the jail of the county in 
which the offense shall have been committed. 


Id. | continued. 

Sec. 482. If any person shall wilfully do or 
cause to be done any act whereby any work, 
materials, or property whatever, erected or 
used or hereafter to be erected or used with- 
in the city or elsewhere by the said city, 
or by any person acting under their author- 
ity, for the purpose of procuring or keep- 
ing a supply of -water, shall in any manner 
be injured or shall erect or place any nuisance 
on the banks of any river, lake or stream 
from which the water supply of said city 
shall be drawn, or shall throw anything into 
the aqueduct, or into anv reservoir or pipe, 
such person, on conviction thereof, shall be 
deemed guiltj of a misdemeanor. 

Dnty of commissioner. 

Sec, 483. The commissioner of water sup- 
ply, gas and electricity is hereby authorized, 
empowered and directed to carry out the 
provisions of this act, in the manner herein- 
after provided, for the purpose of maintain- 
ing, preserving and increasing the supply of 
pure and wholesome water for the use of the 
city, and for the purpose of preventing or 
removing contamination or pollution of any 
supply or source or sources of supply of wa- 
ter hereinbefore acquired by or on behalf of 
said city, and for the purpose of preventing 
the contamination or pollution of any river, 
water course, lake, pond, stream or reservoir 
hereafter acquired for the purpose of sup- 
plying said city with water. 

To take proceedings to acquire title. 

Sec. 484. In all cases where the commis- 
sioner of water supply, gas and electricity 
shall hereafter enter upon, acquire, take or 
use, or shall deem it necessary to enter 
upon, acquire, take or use, any “real es- 
tate,” as the term real estate is defined 
by this act, for the purpose of maintain- 
ing, preserving or increasing the sup- 
ply of pure and wholesome water for 
the use of said city, or for the purpose of 
preventing the contamination or pollution 
of the same, as hereinbefore set forth, the 
said commissioner is authorized, for and in 
behalf, and in the name of The City of v New 
York, in the manner hereinafter prescribed, 
to acquire all rights, titles and interests 
in and to such real estate, by whomsoever 
the same may be held, enjoyed or claimed, 
and to pay for and extinguish all claims or 
damages on account of such rights, titles or 
interests, or growing out of such taking or 
using. 

Definition of “real estate.” 

Sec. 485. The term “real estate" as used 
in this chapter shall be construed to signify 
and embrace all uplands, lands under water, 
the water of any lake, pond or stream, all 
water rights or privilege, and any and all 
easements and hereditaments, corporeal or 
incorporeal, and every estate, interest and 
right, legal and equitable, in lands or water, 
or any privilege or easement thereunder. 
Including terms for years, and liens thereon 
by way of judgment, mortgages or otherwise, 
and also all claims for damage to such real 
estate. It shall also be construed to in- 
clude all real estate (as the term is above 
defined) heretofore or hereafter acquired or 
used for railroad, highway or other public 
purpose, providing the persons or corpora- 
tions owning such real estate, or claiming 
Interests therein, shall be allowed the per- 
petual use, for .such purposes, of the same 
or of such other real estate to be acquired 
for the purposes of this act as will afford 
practicable route or location for such rail- 
road, highway or other public purpose, and 
in the case of a railroad commensurate with 


and adapted to its needs; and provided, also, 
that sucji persons, or corporations shall not 
directly or indirectly, be subject to expense, 
loss or damage by reason of changing such 
route or location, but that such expense, 
loss or damage shall be borne by the city. 
In case any real estate so acquired or used 
for public purposes is sought to be taken or 
affected for the purposes of this act, there 
shall be designated upon the maps referred 
to in this act, and there shall be described 
In the petition referred to, such portion of 
the other real estate shown on said maps 
and described in said petition as it is pro- 
posed to substitute in place of the real es- 
tate then used for such railroad, highway 
or other public purposes. The supreme 
court, at the special term to which said peti- 
tion is presented, or at such other special 
term as the consideration thereof may be 
noticed or adjourned to, shall either ap- 
prove the substitute route or place or refer 
the same back to the said commissioner for 
alteration or amendment, and may refer the 
same back, with such directions or sugges- 
tions as the said court may deem advisable, 
and as often as necessary, and until the said 
commissioner shall determine such substi- 
tuted route or place as may be approved by 
the court; an appeal from any order made 
by said court at special term, under the 
provisions of this section, may be 
taken by any person or corporation in- 
terested in and aggrieved thereby, to 
appellate division of the Judicial depart- 
ment in which the real estate Is situated, 
and shall be heard as a non-enumerated mo- 
tion. The commissioners of appraisal herein 
referred to, in determining the compensation 
to be made to the persons or corporations 
owning such real estate, or claiming interest 
therein, shall include in the amount of such 
compensation such sum as shall be sufficient 
to defray the expenses of making such change 
of route and location and of building said 
railroad or highway. The said commissioners 
of appraisal shall suggest in their report, 
and the court, in the order confirming such 
report, shall determine, subject to review 
by the said appellate division, what reason- 
able time after payment of the awards to 
said persons or corporations shall be sufficient 
within which to complete the work of mak- 
ing such change, and the said city of New 
York or the commissioner of water supply, 
gas and electricity thereof shall not be en- 
titled to take possession or interfere with 
the use, for the aforesaid purposes, of such 
real estate, before the expiration of such 
time. This time may be subsequently ex- 
tended by the court (subject to review as 
aforesaid), upon sufficient cause shown. After 
the expiration of the time so determined or 
extended no use shall be made of said real 
estate which shall cause pollution to the 
water in said reservoir, or the construction 
of said reservoir, or interfere with its flow. 

Commissioner to prepare maps. 

Sec. 486. Whenever in the opinion of said 
commissioner it is necessary to acquire any 
such real estate (as the term “real estate” 
is herein defined), for any of the purposes 
hereinbefore set forth, or for the purpose 
of extinguishing any right, title or interest 
thereto or therein, the said commissioner, 
for and on behalf of The City of New York, 
shall prepare a map or maps of the real estate 
which in his opinion it is necessary to ac- 
quire for the purposes hereinbefore set forth, 
and shall submit the same to the board of 
estimate and apportionment, for approval. 
The said board may adopt, modify or reject 
such maps in whole or in part, and may re- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


57 


quire others to be made Instead thereof. A 
copy of the map or maps so prepared, with a 
certificate of the adoption thereof, signed by 
the commissioner and the mayor, shall be 
filed in the office of said commissioner and 
be open to public inspection, and shall be 
the map or maps of the real estate to be ac- 
quired, subject to such changes or modifica- 
tions as the said commissioner may from 
time to time deem necessary for the more 
efficient carrying out of the provisions of this 
act. And the said board of estimate and ap- 
portionment, prior to- the final adoption of 
such map or maps, shall afford to all persons 
interested a full opportunity to be heard re- 
specting such map or maps and the acquisi- 
tion of the real estate shown thereon, and 
shall give public notice of such hearing, by 
publishing a notice, once in each week, for 
three successive weeks in the City Record, 
and the corporation newspapers, and in 
two papers published in the coun- 
ty or counties in which the real 
estate to be acquired or affected is situated, 
and in two daily papers in The City of New 
York. At such hearing or hearings testimony 
may be produced by the parties appearing 
before it in such manner as said board may 
determine, and the mayor is hereby au- 
thorized to administer oaths and issue sub- 
poenas in any such proceeding pending be- 
fore it. 

Power to enter upon lands tor the 

purpose ot making maps. 

Sec. 487. The said commissioner, his agents, 
engineers, surveyors, and such other persons 
as may be necessary to enable him to per- 
form his duties under this act, are hereby 
authorized to enter upon real estate, as the 
term real estate is defined in this act, and 
any land or water on or contiguous to the 
line, course, site or track of any pond, lake, 
atream. reservoir, dam, aqueduct, culverts, 
sluices, canals, bridges, tunnels, pumping 
works, blow-offs, shafts and other appurte- 
nances, for the purpose of making surveys 
or examinations and preparing and posting 
the notices required by this act. 

Details of maps. 

Sec. 488. After the final adoption of said 
map or maps the said commissioner shall 
prepare six similar maps or plans of the pro- 
posed site of any dam, reservoir, aqueduct, 
aluice, culvert, canal, pumping works, 
bridges, tunnels, blow-offs, ventilating shafts 
and other necessary appurtenances for the 
proper completion of the work so proposed 
by him. Upon these maps there shall be 
laid out and numbered the various parcels 
of real estate, on, over or through which the 
same are to be constructed and maintained, 
or which may be necessary for the prosecu- 
tion of the work authorized by this act. On 
said maps the natural and artificial division 
lines existing on the surface of the soil at the 
time of the survey shall be delineated, and 
there shall be plainly indicated thereon, of 
which parcels the fee or other interest is 
to be acquired. The said maps may be 
made and filed in sections. One or more 
sections may be determined before the maps 
of the whole construction are completed. The 
proceedings hereinafter authorized may. in 
like manner be taken separately, in reference 
to one or more of such sections, before the 
maps of the whole are filed. The work upon 
one or more of such sections may be begun 
before the maps of the remaining sections 
are filed. The map or maps when adopted 
by the said commissioners and board of esti- 
mate and apportionment shall be by said com- 
missioner transmitted to the corporation 


counsel, with a certificate of approval writ- 
ten thereon and signed ' by the ' said' commis- 
sioner and the mayor. 

Maps to be filed. 

Sec. 489. The corporation counsel shall 
cause one of said maps to be filed in the of- 
fice of the clerk of each county in which any 
real estate laid out on said maps shall be 
located, except that in any county in which 
there may be a register’s office, the said map 
shall be filed therein, instead of with the 
county clerk. The fourth, fifth and sixth 
maps shall be disposed of in the manner in- 
dicated in section four hundred and ninety- 
five of this act. 

Corporation counsel to conduct pro- 
ceedings. 

Sec. 490. After the said maps shall have 
been filed, as provided for in the last sec- 
tion, the corporation counsel for and on be- 
half of The City of New York, shall, upon 
first giving the notice required in the next 
section of this title, apply to the supreme 
court, at a special term thereof to be held 
in the judicial district in which the real 
estate to be acquired or affected is situ- 
ated, for the appointment of commissioners 
of appraisal. Upon such application he shall 
present to the court a petition, signed and 
verified by the said commissioner, according 
to the practice of said court, setting forth the 
action theretofore taken by said commission- 
er and board of estimate and apportionment 
and the filing of saiu map and praying for 
the appointment of such commissioners. 
Such petition shall contain a general descrip- 
tion of all the real estate to, in or over which 
any title, interest, right or easement is 
sought to be acquired for the said city for 
the purposes of this act, each parcel being 
more particularly described by a reference 
to the number of said parcel, as given on said 
map; and the title, interest or easement 
sought to be acquired to, in or over such 
parcel, whether a fee or otherwise, shall 
be stated in the petition. 

Notice to be given. 

Sec. 491. The corporation counsel shall 
give notice in the City Record, and corpora- 
tion newspapers, and in two public news- 
papers published in The City of New York, 
and in two public newspapers published in 
each county in which any real estate laid 
out on said maps may be located, of his in- 
tention to make application to the said court 
for the appointment of such commissioners 
of appraisal, which notice shall specify the 
time and place of such application, shall 
briefly state the object of the application, 
and shall describe the real estate sought to 
be taken or affected. A statement of the 
boundaries of the real estate to be acquired 
or affected, with separate enumerations of 
the numbers of the parcels to be taken, in 
fee, and of the numbers of the parcels in 
which any Interest or easement is to be 
acquired, with a reference to the date and 
place of filing the said map shall be suffi- 
cient description of the real estate sought 
to be so taken or affected. Such notice shall 
be published, once in each week, in eacu 
of said newspapers, for six weeks immedi- 
ately previous to the presentation of such 
petition; and the corporation counsel shall, 
in addition to the said advertisements, cause 
copies of the same, in hand bills, to be posted 
in at least twenty conspicuous places in the 
vicinity of the real estate so to be taken or 
affected, at least six weeks prior to said ap- 
plication. 


Motion for appointment of commis- 
sioners of appraisal. 

Sec. 492. At the time and place mentioned 
in said notice, unless the said court shall 
adjourn said application to a subsequent 
day, and in that event, at the time to which 
the same may be adjourned, the court, upon 
due proof to its satisfaction of the publica- 
tion and posting aforesaid, and upon filing 
the said petition, shall make an order for 
the appointment of three disinterested and 
competent freeholders, one of whom shall re- 
side in the county of New York, one of whom 
shall reside in the county in which the real 
estate acquired or affected is situated, and 
one of whom shall reside in the county in 
which the said real estate shall be situated, 
or in an adjoining county, as commissioners 
of appraisal to ascertain and appraise the 
compensation to be made to the owners and 
all persons interested in the real estate laid 
down on said maps, as proposed to be taken 
or affected for the purposes indicated in this 
act. Such order shall fix the time and place 
for the first meeting of the commissioners. 

Commissioners to take and file oath. 

Sec. 493. The said commissioners shall take 
and subscribe the oath required by the 
twelfth article of the constitution, and shall 
forthwith file the same in the office of the 
clerk of the county in which the real estate 
to be acquired or affected is situated, and 
shall file certified copies of said oath in the 
office of the register and county clerk of the 
county of New York. 

City to become seized of real estate. 

Sec. 494. On filing the oath of the commis- 
sioners of appraisal, in the manner provided 
by the last section, the said city of New York 
shall be and become seized in fee of all those 
parcels of real estate which are shown on the 
said map hereinbefore referred to, of which 
it has been determined by the said commis- 
sioner, that the fee shall be acquired, and 
shall be entitled to take and hold such inter- 
est in the parcels of land in which it has been 
determined that the fee shall not be ac- 
quired, as has been shown on said map and 
described in said petition, and may immedi- 
ately, upon the filing of such oaths and such 
certified copies, or at any time or times there- 
after, take possession of the lands shown on 
said map, or any part or parts thereof, with- 
out any suit or proceeding at law for that 
purpose. 

Proceedings of commissioners. 

Sec. 495. Any one of said commissioners of 
appraisal may issue subpoenas and administer 
oaths to witnesses; and they, or any of them, 
in the absence of the others, may adjourn 
the proceedings from time to time, in their 
discretion, but they shall continue to meet, 
from time to time, as may be necessary to 
hear, consider and determine upon all claims 
which may be presented to them under this 
act. In case of death, resignation, refusal, 
neglect or inability to serve, of any commis- 
sioner or commissioners of appraisal, the 
corporation counsel shall, upon due notice to 
be given by advertisement in the newspapers 
designated in this act ten days prior to such 
application, apply to the supreme court, at a 
special term thereof, to be held in the Judi- 
cial district in which the real estate 
is situated, for the appointment of one 
or more commissioners to fill the vacancy 
or vacancies so occasioned. Whenever the 
commissioners meet, except by appointment 
of the court, or pursuant to adjournment, 
they shall cause reasonable notice to be 
given to the attorneys for such parties who 


58 


THE CHARTER OP THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


have appeared. It shall be the duty of t,he 
commissioners of appraisal to procure from 
the corporation counsel the fourth, fifth and 
sixth copies of the maps provided for in this 
act. They shall view the real estate laid 
down on said maps, and shall hear the proofs 
and allegations of any owner, lessee or other 
person in any way entitled to, or interested 
in said estate, or any part or parcel thereof, 
and also such proofs and allegations as may 
be offered on behalf of The City of New York. 
They, ot a majority of them, shall also de- 
termine the height to which the waters of 
any lake, pond or natural stream concerning 
which such proceedings were instituted may 
be raised and the point to which such waters 
may be drawn down by The City of 
New York, such determination to be made 
before any award of damages shall be made 
on account of such proposed raising or de- 
pressing of such waters, and they shall also 
determine what sum shall be paid to the 
general or special guardian or committee of 
an infant, idiot or person of unsound mind, 
and to the attorney appointed by the court 
to attend to the interests of any unknown 
owner or party in interest, or to the attorney 
or guardian of any party in interest whose 
Interests are unknown or the interest of any 
person or persons not in being. They shall 
reduce the testimony, if any, taken, before 
them, to writing, and after thetestimony is 
closed, they, or a majority of them, all hav- ■ 
ing considered the same, and having an op- 
portunity to be present, shall, without un- 
necessary delay, ascertain and determine the 
just compensation which ought justly to be 
made by The City of New York to the own- 
ers, or the persons interested in the real es- 
tate sought to be acquired or affected by said 
proceedings. The said commissioners of 
appraisal shall make reports of their pro- 
ceedings to the supreme court, as in the next 
section provided, with the minutes of the 
testimony taken by them, if any, and they 
shall be entitled to the payment hereinafter 
provided for their services and expenses, to 
be paid from the fund herein provided. 

Commissioners to prepare report. 

Sec. 496. The said commissioners shall pre- 
pare a report and a true copy or 

copies thereof, as may be required, 

to which shall be respectively an- 
nexed the fourth and fifth copies, and, if ; 
required, the sixth copy of the maps referred 
to in this act. The said report shall con- 
tain a brief description of the' several parcels 
of real estate so taken or affected, with a 
reference to the^ map as showing the loca- 
tion and boundaries of each parcel; a state- 
ment of the sum estimated and determined 
upon by them as a just compensation to be 
made by the city to the owners of or 
persons entitled to or interested in each 
parcel so taken or affected, and a 
statement of the respective owners of 
or persons entitled thereto or interested 
therein; but in all and each and every case 
and cases, where the owners and parties in- 
terested, or their respective estates or in- 
terests are unknown, or not fully known, to 
the commissioners of appraisal, it shall be 
sufficient for them to set forth and state, in 
general terms, the respective sums to be al- 
lowed and paid to the owners of and parties 
interested therein generally, without specify- 
ing the names or estates or interests of such 
owners or parties interested, or any or either 
of them. They shall also recommend such 
sums as shall seem to them proper to be al- 
lowed to the parties ot attorneys appearing 
before them, as costs, counsel fees, expenses 
and disbursements, including reasonable com- 
X — '•at!, o far w: r. -jscs. 


Report to be filed. 

Sec. 497. Said report signed by the com- 
missioners, or a majority of them, shall be 
filed in the office of the clerk of the county in 
which the real estate is situated. The com- 
missioners of appraisal shall notify the cor- 
poration counsel as soon as the said report 
is filed. 

Notice of motion to confirm report. 

Sec. 498. The corporation counsel, or in 
case of his neglect to do so within ten days 
after receiving notice of such filing, then any 
person interested in the proceedings, shall 
give notice that the said report will be pre- 
sented for confirmation to the supreme court, 
at a special term thereof, to be held in the 
judicial district in which the real estate is 
situated, at a time and place to be specified 
in said notice. The said notice shall contain 
a statement of the time and place of the 
filing of the report, and shall be published 
in each of the newspapers referred to in sec- 
tion four hundred and ninety-one of this act, 
once in each week, for at least four weeks 
immediately prior to the presentation of said 
report for confirmation. 

Confirmation of report. 

Sec. 499. The application for the confirma- 
tion of the report shall be made to the su- 
preme court, at 'a special term thereof, held 
in the judicial district in which the real 
estate is situated. Upon the hearing of the 
application for the confirmation thereof, the 
said court shall confirm such report, and 
make an order, containing a recital of the 
substance of the proceedings in the matter of 
the appraisal, with a general description of 
the real estate appraised, and for which com- 
pensation is to be made; and shall also direct 
to whom the money is to be paid, or in 
what trust company it shall be deposited by 
the comptroller of The City of New York. 
Such report, when so confirmed, shall (except 
in the case of an appeal, as provided in sec- 
tion five hundred and five of this act) be final 
and conclusive as well upon the said city of 
New York as upon the owners and all per- 
sons interested in or entitled to said real 
estate; and also upon all other persons 
whomsoever. 

Payment of awards. 

Sec. 500. The said city of New York shall, 
within four calendar months after the 
making and entry of the order confirming 
the report of the commissioners of appraisal, 
pay to the respective owners and bodies, pol- 
itic or corporate, mentioned or referred to in 
said report, in whose favor any sum or sums 
of money shall be estimated and reported by 
said commissioners, the respective sum or 
sums so estimated and reported in their fa- 
vor respectively, with lawful interest thereon, 
from the date of filing the oath of said com- 
missioners and certified copies thereof, as by 
this act required. And in case of neglect or 
default in the payment of the same within 
the time aforesaid, the respective person or 
persons, or bodies, politic or corporate, in 
whose favor the same shall be so reported, 
his, her or their executors, administrators, 
legal representatives or successors, at any 
time or times, after application first made by 
him, her or them, to the comptroller of The 
City of New York for payment thereof, may 
sue for and recover the same, with lawful in- 
terest, as aforesaid, and the costs of suit in 
any proper form of action against the said 
City of New York in any court having cogniz- 
ance thereof, and in which it shall be sufficient 
to declare generally for so much money due to 
the rlair'ift.pr t islr.ti.”s thrr In by vlr 


this act, for real estate taken or affected for 
the purposes herein mentioned, and the re- 
port and order confirming report of said com- 
missioners, with proof of the right and title 
of the plaintiff or plaintiffs to the sum or 
sums demanded shall be conclusive evidence 
in such suit or action, and entitle plaintiff to 
judgment therein. 

Sum awarded to be deposited in cer- 
tain cases. 

Sec. 501. Whenever the owner or owners, 
person or persons Interested in any real es- 
tate taken or affected in such proceedings, or 
in whose favor any such sum or sums or com- 
pensation shall be so reported, shall be un- 
der the age of twenty-one years, of unsound 
mind, or absent from the state of New York, 
and also in cases where the name or names 
of the owner or owners, person or persons in- 
terested in any such real estate shall not be 
set forth or mentioned in the said report, or 
where the said owner or owners, person or 
persons, being named therein cannot, upon 
diligent inquiry, be found or where there are 
adverse or conflicting claims to the money 
awarded as compensation, it shall be lawful 
for the said city of New York to pay the sum 
or sums mentioned in the said report, pay- 
able, or that would be coming to such owner 
or owners, person or persons, respectively, 
with interest aforesaid, into such trust com- 
pany as the court may, in the order of con- 
firmation, direct to the credit of such owner 
or owners, person or persons, and such pay- 
ment shall be as valid and effectual, in all 
respects, as if made to the said owner or 
owners, person or persons interested therein 
respectively themselves, according to their 
just rights; and provided, also, that in all and 
each and every such case and cases where 
any such sum or sums, or compensa- 
tion, reported by the commissioners in 
favor of any person or persons, or par- 
ty or parties, whatsoever, whether 
named or not named in the said re- 
port, shall be paid to any person or 'persons, 
or party or parties, whomsoever, when the 
same shall of right belong and ought to have 
been paid to some other person or persons, or 
party or parties, it shall be lawful for the per- 
son or persons, or party or parties to whom 
the same ought to have been paid, to sue for 
and recover the same, with lawful interest 
and costs of suits, as so much money had and 
received to his, her or their use, by the per- 
son or persons, party or parties respectively 
to whom the same shall have been so paid. 

Who may present claim before com- 
missioner. 

Sec. 502. Every owner or person In any way 
interested in any real estate taken, affected 
or entered upon and used and occupied for 
the purposes contemplated by this act, and 
any owner or person interested in real estate 
contiguous thereto, and which is affected by 
the acquisition, use or occupation of the real 
estate shown on said map, whether such con- 
tiguous real estate is shown on the maps or 
not, if he or they intend to make claim for 
compensation for such taking, entering upon, 
using or occupying, shall, within one year 
after the appointment of the commissioners 
of appraisal, exhibit to the said commissioner 
a statement of claim, and shall thereupon be 
entitled to offer testimony and to be heard 
before them touching such claim, and the 
compensation proper to be made, and to have 
a determination made by such commissioners 
of appraisal as to the amount of such com- 
pensation. Every person, corporation, or 
body politic, neglecting or refusing to present 
such claim within said time shall be deemed 
.. U: v, sj;r- li.-. d ala, her or St, 


;.e uC 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


59 


Interest In such real estate or his, her or Its 
claim for damages thereto, except so far as 
they may be entitled, as such owner or per- 
son interested, to the whole or a part of the 
sum of money awarded by the commissioners 
of appraisal as a just compensation for tak- 
ing, using and occupying, or as damages for 
affecting the real estate owned by said per- 
son, corporation, or body politic. 

City protected by pnyment. 

Sec. 503. Payment of the compensation 
awarded by said commissioners of appraisal 
to the person or persons, corporation, or body 
politic named in their report (if not Infants or 
persons of unsound mind) shall, in the ab- 
sence of notice to The City of New York of 
other claimants to such award, protect the 
said city of New York. 

Separate reports may be made. 

Sec. 504. Said commissioners of appraisal 
may, in their discretion, take up any specified 
claim or claims, and Anally ascertain and de- 
termine the compensation to be made there- 
on, and make a separate report with refer- 
ence thereto, annexing to said report a copy 
of so much of the maps as displays the parcel 
or parcels so reported on. Such report shall, 
as to the claims therein speciAed, be the re- 
port required in this act, and the subsequent 
action with reference thereto shall be had in 
the same manner as though no other claim 
was embraced in said proceeding, which, how- 
ever, shall continue as to all claims upon 
which no such determination and report is 
made. 

Proceeding’s in case of an appeal. 

Sec. 505. Within twenty days after the 
making, entry and service of the order con- 
Arming the report of the commissioners of 
appraisal, as provided for in this act, of 
which notice may, as to the parties who 
have not appeared before the commissioners, 
be given in the manner provided in this act, 
either party may appeal by notice, in writ- 
ing, to the appellate division of the supreme 
court of the judicial department in which 
the real estate described in said petition 
and shown on said map is situated. Such ap- 
peal shall be heard, on due notice thereof 
being given, according to the rules and prac- 
tice of the said court, and pending such 
appeal the comptroller of The City of New 
York shall deposit in such trust company as 
the court shall direct, the amount of the 
award, with interest to the date of such de- 
posit. and the funds so deposited shall re- 
main with the trust company, subject to 
the further order of the court. On the hear- 
ing of such appeal the court may direct a 
new appraisal and determination by tho 
same or new commissioners, in its discre- 
tion, and either party, if aggrieved, may 
take a further appeal, which shall be heard 
and determined by the court of appeals. 
In the case of a new appraisal the second 
report shall be Anal and conclusive on all 
parties and persons interested. If the 
amount of compensation to be made by the 
said city is increased by the second report, 
the difference shall be paid by the comptrol- 
ler of The City of New York to the parties^ 
entitled to the same, or shall be deposited, 
as the court may direct; and if the amount 
Is diminished, the dlllfa>ence shall be re- 
funded to the said city of New York by the 
trust company. But the taking of an ap- 
peal by any person or persons shall not op- 
erate to stay the proceedings under this act, 
providing such award and interest have been 
deposited. Such appeal shall be heard upon 
the evidence taken end proceeding? had be- 
U . o in iv • « 3 


How defects may be remedied. 

Sec. 506. The supreme court of the ju- 
dicial district in which the real estate is 
situated shall have power at any time to 
amend any defect or informality in any of 
the special proceedings authorized by this 
act as may be necessary, or to cause other 
property to be included therein, and to di- 
rect such further notices to be given to any 
party in interest, as it deems proper, and 
also to appoint other commissioners in place 
of any who shall die or refuse or neglect 
to serve, of be incapable of serving, or be 
removed. And the said court may, at any 
time, remove any of said commissioners of 
appraisal who, in their judgment, shall be 
incapable of serving, or who shall, for any 
reason in their judgment be an unAt person 
to serve as such commissioner. The cause 
of such removal shall be speciAed in the 
order making the same. If, in any partic- 
ular, it shall, at any time, be found nec- 
essary to amend any pleading, or proceed- 
ing, or to supply any defect therein, aris- 
ing in the course of any special proceeding 
authorized by this act, the same may be 
amended or supplied in such manner as shall 
be directed by the supreme court, which is 
hereby authorized to make such amendment 
or correction. 

Agreements with owners of real es- 
tate. 

Sec. 507. The said commissioner of water 
supply, gas and electricity, subject to the ap- 
proval of the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment, may agree with the owners or per- 
son interested in any real estate laid down 
on said maps as to the amount of compensa- 
tion to be paid to such owners or persons in- 
terested for the taking or using and occupy- 
ing such real estate. And in case any such 
real estate shall be owned, occupied or en- 
joyed by the people of this state, or by any 
county, town or school district within this 
state, such rights, titles, interests or proper- 
ties may be paid for upon agreement re- 
spectively with the commissioners of the land 
ofAce, who shall act for the people of the 
state, with a chairman and a majority in 
numbers of the board of supervisors of any 
county, who shall act for such county, and 
with the supervisor and commissioners of 
highways in any town, who shall act for suen 
town, and with the trustees of any school 
district, who shall act for such district, and 
with the president and a majority of the 
board of trustees of any incorporated village. 
The commissioners of the land office shall 
have power to grant to the said city any real 
estate belonging to the people of this s<ate 
which may be required for the purposes Indi- 
cated in this act, on such terms as may be 
agreed on between them and the said com- 
missioners; and if any real estate of any 
county, town or school district is required by 
said city for the purposes of this act, the ma- 
jority of the board of supervisors, acting for 
such county, or the supervisors of any such 
town, with the commissioners of highways 
therein, acting for such town, or the trustees 
of any school district, acting for such dis- 
trict, or the president and majority of trus- 
tees of any incorporated village, may grant 
or surrender such real estate for such com- 
pensation as may be agreed upon between 
such officers respectively and the said com- 
missioners. 

Compensation and expenses of com- 
missioners 

Sec. 508. The commissioners of appraisal, 
appointed in pursuance of this act, shall re- 
cede as compensation for their services the 

, ..a s ,;i to; u l - 


which the said commissioners shall be actu- 
ally and necessarily employed in the perform- 
ance of the duties imposed upon them by 
this act. They may employ the necessary 
clerks and stenographers. The corporation 
counsel shall, either in person or by such 
counsel as he shall designate for the purpose, 
appear for and protect the interests of the 
city in all such proceedings in court and be- 
fore the commissioners. The fees of the 
commissioners, and the salaries and com- 
pensation of their employes, and their 
necessary traveling expenses and all 
other necessary expenses in and about 
the special proceedings provided by this act, 
to be had for acquiring title or extinguishing 
claims for damages to real estate, and such 
allowance for counsel fees, expenses and wit- 
ness fees as may be recommended by the 
commissioners and ordered paid by order of 
the court, shall be paid by the comptroller of 
The City of New York, out of the funds here- 
inafter provided, when they have been taxed 
before a justice of the supreme court in the 
judicial district in which the real estate is 
situated, upon Ave days’ notice to the cor- 
poration counsel. 

Issue of bonds. 

Sec. 509. The comptroller of The City of New 
York is hereby authorized and directed to 
raise, from time to time, on bonds of said 
city, in addition to the amounts which he is 
now authorized to raise for such purposes, 
such sums of money as shall be sufficient to 
pay for any real estate, or for the extin- 
guishment of any right, title, or interest 
therein acquired, and all damages appraised 
to persons interested therein, together with 
all expenses necessarily incurred in acquiring 
title to such real estate, or in extinguishing 
claims for damages thereto, and for all other 
expenditures herein authorized. 

Description of bonds. 

Sec. 510. The bonds to be issued by the 
comptroller of The City of New York in pur- 
suance of this title shall be called “Corporate 
stock of The City of New York,” and shall 
be issued in the manner hereinbefore pro- 
vided for the issue of corporate stock, subject, 
however, to the limitations of the state con- 
stitution. And the board of aldermen of said 
city is hereby authorized and directed to 
raise, from time to time, by tax upon the 
estates, real and personal, subject to taxa- 
tion in The City of New York, the sum or 
sums of money which may be required to 
pay the interest on said bonds and to re- 
deem. them at maturity. 

Jurisdiction of state board of heultb. 

Sec. 511. Any lake or reservoir construct- 
ed or maintained under the provisions of this 
act shall be subject to such sanitary regu- 
lations as the state board of health shall 
prescribe. 

Hii.liwnys and bridges. 

Sec. 512. The City of New York is hereby 
required to build and construct such high- 
ways and bridges as may be made necessary 
by the construction of any reservoir and to 
repair and forever maintain such additional 
bridges as may be made necessary by the 
construction of such reservoir or reservoirs. 

Account of expenditure to be filed in 

comptroller’* office. 

Sec. 513. The said commissioner of water 
supply, gas and electricity shall, in every 
calendar month, Ale in the office of the comp- 
troller of The City of New York an account 
of all expenditures made bv him. or under 
X i-’ «uli< l.y. ai. I of all li..t:,i.iso incurr^J 


60 


TIIE -CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


by him, during the preceding month, and 
an abstract of each such account shall he 
published In the City Record. 

I.lmit within which Lake Mnliopnc may 

not he drawn down. 

Sec. 514. Nothing herein contained shall 
authorize or empower or permit any water 
in excess of the ordinary flow thereof to be 
drawn from Lake Mahopac, in the town of 
Carmel, Putnam county, between the first 
days of March and September in any year. 

Present proceedings to he continued. 

Sec. 515. All proceedings pending at the 
time this act takes effect for the acqui- 
sition of title to or the extinguishment of 
rights in real estate for any of the purposes 
in this title specified shall be continued and 
prosecuted to a conclusion according to the 
respective provisions of law under which said 
proceedings may have been begun, and as 
to all such proceedings this act shall not be 
deemed applicable. 

Id.t corporation authorized to use 

ground under streets, etc. 

Sec. 516. All persons acting under the au- 
thority of The City of New York shall have 
the right to use the ground or soil under 
any street, highway or road within this state 
for the purpose of Introducing water into 
The City of New York, on condition that they 
shall cause the surface of said street, high- 
ways or roads to be restored to its original 
state, and all damages done thereto shall be 
repaired. 

Devolution of powers of former 

hoards. 

Sec. 517. For all the purposes of this act 
all of the rights, powers, privileges, duties 
and obligations, heretofore created by law 
or otherwise, of the city of Brookyn, or of 
any of its departments or officers respect- 
ing the water-works of said city are, so far 
as they are consistent with the provisions 
of this act, hereby vested in The City of 
New York, as constituted by this act, and as 
matter of administration devolved upon the 
commissioner of water supply, gas and elec- 
tricity of The City of New York to be by 
him exercised in accordance with the pro- 
visions, directions and limitations of this 
act, and all of the rights, powers, privileges, 
duties and obligations of Long Island City, 
or of any or either of its departments or 
officers, or of any town, village or district 
In any of the territory hereby annexed to 
the corporation heretofore known as the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York, and by this act consolidated 
into one city, in respect to any Ot'-the pub- 
lic water-works or the public water system, 
or the public water supply thereof; the sale 
and distribution of the same, are hereby 
vested in The City of New York, and for the 
purpose of administration are hereby de- 
volved upon the said commissioner to be 
by him executed pursuant to the provisions, 
directions and limitations of this act. 

Legal effect of act upon uew aque- 
duct. 

Sec. 518. Nothing in this act contained 
shall be deemed or construed to repeal, or 
in any wise affect chapter four hundred and 
ninety of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
eighty-three, entitled “An act to provide new 
reservoirs, dams and a new aqueduct with the 
appurtenances thereto for the purpose of 
supplying the City of New York with an in- 
creased supply of pure and wholesome 
water,” or the several acts amendatory 
thereof, but the said act and its amendments 
shall remain in full force and effect. The 


term of office of the commissioners appointed 
and existing under the aforesaid act 
shall cease and determine on the completion 
of the work, and thereupon all papers, docu- 
ments and records in possession of the aque- 
duct commissioners shall be delivered to the 
commissioner of water supply, gas and elec- 
tricity. 

Commissioner to inspect electric 

lights; to cause tests to be made, etc. 

Sec. 519. The said commissioner of water 
supply, gas and electricity shall cause in- 
spection to be made of electric lights fur- 
nished to the city, and of electric meters 
and electric wiring, as such tests may be 
provided for by the proper appropriation; the 
said commissioner shall cause tests to be 
made of all meters in use in said city for 
measuring or ascertaining the quantity of 
electricity or steam furnished by any corpo- 
ration or person in said city within one year 
after this act shall take effect; and there- 
after no corporation or person shall furnish 
or put in use any electric or steam meter 
which shall not have been inspected 
approved and sealed by the inspectors, and 
every such corporation or person shall pro- 
vide and keep in or upon their premises a 
suitable and proper apparatus to be approved 
and sealed by the inspector for testing and 
proving accuracy of meters furnished for use 
by them. Whenever a meter shall be in- 
spected the inspector shall attach thereto 
some seal, stamp or mark, with the inspec- 
tor’s name, the date of his inspection, and 
whether or not the meter is accurate. Meters 
in use shall be reinspected and tested on 
the written request of the consumer, or of 
the company, in the presence of the consum- 
er, if desired. If any such meter on being 
tested shall be found defective or inaccurate 
to the prejudice or injury of the consumer, 
the necessary removal, inspection, correction 
and replacing of such meter shall be with- 
out expense to the consumer; but in al} oth- 
er cases, except where the change is bene- 
ficial to the company, he shall pay the rea- 
sonable expense of such inspection and the 
reinspection shall be stamped on the meter. 
Provided, however, that nothing herein con- 
tained shall be construed as requiring to be 
sealed, electrolytic or other electric meters, 
which in their construction or use are not 
susceptible of being sealed, nor the appara- 
tus employed in taking the usual periodic 
readings therefrom; but all such meters 
shall, in all other respects, be tested and 
stamped in the manner provided herein for 
other meters; and every corporation using 
such electrolytic or other meter shall 
at all times admit the inspectors 
of meters at the meter department 
and reading rooms, and permit the 
inspection by him of all meters and of. all 
the processes, methods and operations of 
measuring electric current consumed by It. 

Laws repealed. 

Sec. 520. The provisions of sections sixty- 
two, sixty-three and sixty-four of chapter 
forty of the general laws, known as the trans- 
portation corporations law, are hereby re- 
pealed in so far as they affect the inspection 
of electric meters within The City of New 
York. 

Interest in manufacture of gas, etc., 

and certain acts by officers, etc., of 

department prohibited. 

Sec. 521. No officer, agent or employe of the 
department of water supply, gas and elec- 
tricity, shall in any way, directly or indi- 
rectly, be interested, pecuniarily, in the man- 
ufacture or sale of gas, or of electricity or 


steam, or of gas or electric or steam meters, 
or of any article or commodity used by gas 
or electric companies, or used for any pur- 
pose for the consumption of gas or of elec- 
tricity, or steam, or in or with a gas or elec- 
tric or steam company, and no such officer, 
agent, or employe shall give certificates or 
written opinions to a maker or vendor of any 
such article or commodity. 

Inspection of Illuminating gas; tests. 

Sec. 622. The illuminating gas of every 
company shall be inspected at least twice a 
year, and may be inspected as frequently as 
the commissioner may think best, but not 
oftener than once a week. The gas shall be 
tested for illuminating power by means of a 
disephotometer, or other approved apparatus, 
and during such test shall be burned from a 
burner best adapted to It, which is at the 
same time suitable for domestic use, and at as 
near the rate of five feet per hour as is prac- 
ticable. When the gas of any such company 
shall be found on three consecutive inspec- 
tions to be of an illuminating power less than 
twenty sperm candles of six to a pound, and 
burning at the rate of one hundred and 
twenty grains of spermaceti per hour, tested 
at such place as the said commissioner shall 
specify by a burner consuming five cubic feet 
of gas per hour, and shall not comply with 
the reasonable and proper standard of purity 
as fixed by said commissioner, a fine of one 
hundred dollars shall be paid by such com- 
pany to the city. 

Commissioner to submit proposed or- 
dinances relative to wires, etc. 

Sec. 523. The said commissioner of water 
supply, gas and electricity shall from time to 
time submit for the consideration of the 
board of aldermen such proposed ordinances 
in regard to electric wires, appliances and cur- 
rents for furnishing light, heat or power 
when introduced into or placed in any build- 
ing in said city. Such proposed ordinances 
6hall prescribe the method of construction, 
operation, location, arrangement, insulation 
and use of such wires, appliances and currents 
as said commissioner shall from time to time 
deem necessary for the protection of life and 
property. 

Inspector of electric wiring; qualifica- 
tions; all wires to be inspected; rules, 

notices, etc.; penalty for violation. 

Sec. 524. Any inspector of electric wiring 
appointed in the department shall have a 
technical and practical knowledge of the con- 
struction and operation of electrical lines and 
appliances. After this act takes effect, the 
commissioner shall cause to be inspected all 
such wires, currents and appliances that may 
be introduced into or placed in any building 
in said city, and the said commissioner shall 
furnish a certificate of such inspection to any 
person or corporation applying therefor. All 
notices of the violation of any of the provi- 
sions of this section, or of any ordinances 
relating to said department, or any regula- 
tions, rules or orders made thereunder relat- 
ing to electrical wires, currents or appliances, 
shall be issued and served in the manner pro- 
vided in this act for the service of notices. 
The violation of any of the provisions of this 
section or of any of the said ordinances or 
any rules or regulations thereunder shall be 
deemed to be a violation of the building code 
of said city, and shall subject the person or 
corporation committing the same to the pen- 
alties prescribed herein for such violations. 

Removal of electric wires. 

Sec. 525. Whenever in the opinion of tho 
board of estimate and apportionment it shall 
be practicable to remove the electrical con- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW 


ductors above ground in any street, avenue 
highway or public place of that part of The 
City cf New York which lies within the bor- 
oughs of Manhattan and The Bronx, after 
the grade of said street, avenue or highway 
shall have been finally determined and es- 
tablished, and to place the same underground, 
the commissioner of tvater supply, gas and 
electricity shall notify the owners or ope- 
rators of the electrical conductors above 
ground that such electrical conductors must 
be removed within a certain time to be fixsd 
by said commissioner, which time shall be 
sufficient for such removal, and in the case 
of a corporation duly authorized to lay and 
operate electrical conductors underground in 
such street, avenue, highway or public place, 
sufficient also for the proper laying of con- 
ductors underground in place of those re- 
moved. All electrical conductors authorized 
to be placed underground, shall be placed 
underground under and in accordance with 
the provisions of chapter seven hundred and 
sixteen of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
eighty-seven, chapter two hundred and thir- 
ty-one of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-one, chapter two hundred and sixty- 
three of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-two, and the laws amendatory thereof 
end supplemental thereto. Whenever appli- 
cation shall be made to said commissioner 
of water supply, gas and electricity for per- 
mission to place underground electrical con- 
ductors in any street, avenue, highway or 
public place of that part of The City of 
New York which lies within the boroughs of 
Manhattan and The Bronx, the subways 
therefor shall, if such permission be granted, 
be constructed or provided, and such elec- 
trical conductors placed underground under 
and in accordance with the provisions of said 
laws. But such permission shall be granted 
only in accordance with the provisions of said 
laws. 

Underground electrical conductors. 

Sec. 526. Whenever the said board of esti- 
mate and apportionment shall deem it desira- 
ble and practicable, after hearing all parties 
interested, that the electrical conductors in 
any street, avenue, highway or public place 
of The City of New York, lying within the 
boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond, 
be placed underground, the said commission- 
er of water supply, gas and electricity shall 
notify the owners or operators of the elec- 
trical conductors above ground in any such 
street, avenue, highway or public place, that 
said electrical conductors shall be placed un- 
derground within a certain time to be fixed 
by the said commissioner, which said time 
shall be sufficient for the proper construction 
of underground conduits or other channels in 
said street, avenue, highway or public place. 
Whenever any duly authorized company ope- 
rating or intending to operate electrical con- 
ductors in any street, avenue, highway or 
public place in that part of The City of New 
York which lies within the boroughs of 
Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond, shall desire 
to place its conductors or any of them under- 
ground, it shall be obligatory upon such com- 
pany to file with the said commissioner a map 
or maps made to a scale, showing the streets 
or avenues or other highways or public places, 
which arc desired to be used for such purpose, 
and giving the general location, dimensions 
and course of the underground conduit desired 
to be constructed. Before any such conduit 
shall be constructed it shall be necessary to 
obtain the approval by said commissioner of 
said plnn of construction so proposed by such 
company, and said commissioner shall have 
power to require that the work of removal 


and of constructing every such system of 
underground conductors shill be done ac- 
cording to such plan so approved. 

I«l. I procedure when board of estimate 
and apportionment determines npon. 

Sec. 527. Whenever the commissioner of 
water supply, gas and electricity in accord- 
ance with the resolution of the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment shall notify the own- 
ers or operators of any electrical conductors 
in The City of New York, that said conduct- 
ors shall be removed or placed underground 
vithin a certain time, the time within which 
said electrical conductors shall be placed un- 
derground shall be fixed by the Slid com- 
missioner, giving all persons or corporations 
owning or operating such electrical con- 
ductors, an opportunity to be heard on the 
question of the time necessary to place said 
conductors underground, and after hearing 
the engineer of lighting and electricity, and 
such other expert opinion as the said commis- 
sioner may think advisable. Said owners or 
operators of electrical conductors above 
ground in such street or locality shall be re- 
quired to remove all of said poles, wires or 
other electrical conductors and supporting 
fixtures or other devices from any such street 
or locality within thirty days after the ex- 
piration of the time so fixed by said com- 
missioner. 

I<1 . 5 permit necessary to take np pave- 
ment, etc.; commissioner of water 
snpply, etc., to determine method of 
extension; board of aldermen may en- 
act ordinances regulating use, etc. 

Sec. 528. It shall be unlawful, after the 
passage of this act, for any person or cor- 
poration to take up the pavement of any of 
the streets, avenues, highways or other pub- 
lic places of said city, or to excavate for the 
purpose of laying underground any electrical 
conductors, of constructing subways, or of 
erecting poles, unless permission in writing 
therefor shall have been first obtained from 
the said commissioner of water supply, gas 
and electricity with the written approval of 
the president of the borough within which it 
is desired to lay such conduits, erect such 
poles, or to construct such subways. No elec- 
trical conductors, shall be strung, laid or 
maintained above or below the surface of any 
street, avenue, highway or other public place, 
in any part of said city without permission 
in writing from said commissioner therefor. 
And the said commissioner shall determne 
whether any extension of the existing elec- 
trical conductors of any person or corpora- 
tion in said city shall be by means of over- 
head or underground conductors. The board 
of aldermen may establish, and may from 
time to time enact general ordinances regu- 
lating the construction, maintenance, use and 
management of the electrical conductors, 
poles and fixtures above ground, and the con- 
duits and subways therefor constructed un- 
der ground. 

The four preceding sections to be po- 
lice regulations. 

Sec. 529. The provisions of the four preced- 
ing sections of this act are made police regu- 
lations in and for The City of New York, and 
in case the several owners of said poles, 
wires or other electrical conductors, fixtures 
and devices shall not cause them to be re- 
moved from such streets or localities as re- 
quired by said commissioner of water sup- 
ply, gas and electricity or by the de- 
termination of the board of estimate 
and apportionment, or shall neglect 
or refuse to comply with any of tho ordin- 
ances as herein provided, it shall be the duty 
of the said commissioner to cause the same 


YORK. 6Y 


to be removed from said streets, roads, ave- 
nues, lanes, parks and public places. 

Separate contracts for lighting each 

borough; duty of commissioner. 

Sec. 530. The commissioner of water sup- 
ply, gas and electricity, under and in con- 
formity to the ordinance regulating contracts 
shall prepare the terms and specifications un- 
der which contracts shall he made for light- 
ing the streets, public buildings and parks 
of said city. Separate contracts shall be 
made for such lighting in each of the bor- 
oughs of The City of New York, or in 
such subdivisions of the city as may appear to 
the board of estimate and apportionment to 
be for the best interests of the city. The 
number, kind and location of lights to be fur- 
nished under each of said contracts shall be 
determined and prescribed by the said com- 
missioner. Such bids shall be prepared and 
advertised for, and such contracts shall be 
executed In the manner prescribed for here- 
in as to other contracts entered into by said 
city or the departments thereof. Contracts 
shall be made for the term of not exceeding 
one year, and shall be awarded to the lowest 
bidder, unless the board of estimate and 
apportionment shall determine that it is for 
the public Interest that a bid other than tho 
lowest should be accepted. Contracts made 
for a given borough or district shall Include 
all lights of a given kind used by said city in 
said borough or district then ordered or 
thereafter to be ordered by said commission- 
er during the term of said contract. But no 
bid shall be entertained unless the said com- 
missioner shall be satisfied that the party or 
parties bidding are possessed of sufficient 
plant to carry out the provisions of the con- 
tract. 

Maps, etc., to be tamed over to com- 
missioner. 

Sec. 531. The commissioner of public build- 
ings. lighting and supplies, as constituted 
by chapter three hundred and seventy-eight 
of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven, is hereby required and directed to 
turn over and deliver to the commissioner of 
water supply, gas and electricity, on the 
first day of January, nineteen hundred and 
two, all maps, plans, models, hooks and pa- 
pers and all official records and papers of 
every kind in his possession relating to the 
construction and location of electrical con- 
ductors, conduits or subways, filed with or 
communicated to said commissioner. 

TITLE 3. 

DEPARTMENT OF STREET CLEANING. 

Commissioner, appointment and sal- 
ary. 

Sec. 533. The head of the department of 
street cleaning shall be called the commis- 
sioner of street cleaning. He shall 
be appointed by the mayor and 
shall hold office as provided In 
chapter four of this act. His salary shall be 
seven thousand five hundred dollars a year. 
The main office of the department shall be 
located in the borough of Manhattan. Branch 
offices may be located in the boroughs of 
Brooklyn and The Bronx. 

Id.: jurisdiction. 

Sec. 534. The commissioner of street clean- 
ing shall have cognizance and control: 

1. Of the sweeping and cleaning of the 
streets or the boroughs of Manhattan, The 
Bronx, and Brooklyn, and of the removal, 
or other disposition as often as the public 
health and the use of the streets may re- 
quire, o^ ashes, street sweepings, garbage. 


62 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


and other light refuse and rubbish, and of the 
removal of snow and ice from leading thor- 
oughfares and from such other streets within 
said boroughs as may be found practicable. 

2. Of the framing of regulations controlling 
the use of sidewalks and gutters by abutting 
owners and occupants for the disposition of 
sweepings, refuse, garbage or light rubbish, 
within such boroughs, which, when so framed, 
and approved by the board of aldermen shall 
be published in like manner as city ordi- 
nances, and shall be enforced by the police 
department in the same manner and to the 
same extent as such ordinances. 

Streets! wlint streets and wharves not 

included. 

• Sec. 535. The term streets as used in this 
title shall not be deemed to include such 
macadamized streets as are within any park 
or are under the control or management of 
the department of parks, nor such wharves, 
piers and bulkheads or slips and parts of 
streets and places as are by law committed 
to the custody and control of the department 
of docks and ferries. 

Street cleaning department; members 

of; clerical nnd uniformed forces. 

Sec. 536. The members of the department of 
street cleaning shall be divided into two gen- 
eral classes, to be designated, respectively, 
the clerical force and the uniformed force. 
The clerical force shall consist of a chief 
clerk, medical examiners, not exceeding three 
in number, and such and so many clerks and 
messengers as the commissioner of street 
cleaning shall deem necessary. The uniformed 
force shall be appointed by the commissioner 
of street cleaning, and shall consist or one 
general superintendent, one assistant super- 
intendent, one superintendent of final dispo- 
sition, one assistant superintendent of final 
disposition, district superintendents, not ex- 
ceeding twenty-one in number; time collect- 
ors, not exceeding eight in number; section 
foremen, not exceeding one hundred and 
twenty-five in number; dump inspectors, not 
exceeding forty-three in number; assistant 
dump inspectors, not exceeding forty-three in 
number; sweepers, not exceeding thirty- 
one hundred in number; dump boardmen, not 
exceeding forty-three in number; drivers, not 
exceeding sixteen hundred in number; stable 
foremen, not exceeding twenty-one in num- 
ber; assistant stable foremen, not exceeding 
twenty-one In number; hostlers, not exceed- 
ing one head hostler to each stable and ad- 
ditional hostlers not exceeding one for each 
ten horses; a master mechanic and such and 
so many mechanics and helpers as may be 
necessary. The commissioner of street clean- 
ing shall have power and is hereby author- 
ized to increase the said uniformed force, 
from time to time, by adding to the number 
of sweepers, drivers and hostlers, provided 
the board of estimate and apportionment and 
the board of aldermen shall have previously 
made an appropriation for the purpose of 
permitting such increase. The annual salar- 
ies and compensations of the members of the 
uniformed force of the department of street 
cleaning shall not exceed the following: Of 
the general superintendent, three thousand 
dollars; of the assistant superintendent, two 
thousand five hundred dollars; of the mas- 
ter mechanlp, one thousand eight hundred 
dollars; of the superintendent of final dis- 
position, two thousand dollars; of the assist- 
ant superintendent of final disposition, one 
thousand five hundred dollars: of the dis- 
trict superintendents, one thousand eight 
hundred dollars each; of the time collectors, 
one thousand two hundred dollars each; of 
the section foremen, one thousand two hun- 
dred dollars each; of sweepers or drivers 


acting as assistants to the section or stable 
foremen, nine hundred dollars each; of the 
dump inspectors, one thousand two hundred 
dollars each; of the assistant dump inspect- 
ors, nine hundred dollars each; of the dump 
boardmen, seven hundred and twenty dollars 
each; of the sweepers, seven hundred and 
twenty dollars each; of the drivers, seven 
hundred and twenty dollars each; of the 
stable foremen, one thousand three hundred 
dollars each; of the assistant stable fore- 
men, one thousand dollars each; of the hos- 
tlers, seven hundred and twenty dollars each. 
Hostlers may receive extra pay for Sundays 
if an appropriation therefor is made by the 
board of estimate and apportionment. The 
members of the department of street clean- 
ing shall be employed at all such times and 
during such hours and upon such duties a? 
the commissioner of street cleaning shall di- 
rect for the purpose of an effective perform- 
ance of the work devolving upon the said de- 
partment. In case of a snowfall or other 
emergency, the commissioner of street 
cleaning or the deputy commissioner may- 
hire and employ temporarily such and so 
many men, carts and horses as shall be ren- 
dered necessary by such emergency, forth- 
with reporting such action with the full par- 
ticulars thereof to the mayor, but no man, 
cart or horse shall be so hired or employed 
for a longer period than three days, except 
that any person registered or eligible to ap- 
pointment as a driver, or as a sweeper, may- 
be temporarily employed at any time as au 
extra driver or sweeper to fill the place of 
a driver or sweeper who is suspended or 
temporarily absent from duty from any cause. 
The rate of compensation for such extra 
drivers or sweepers shall be two dollars per 
day, and the driver or sweeper whose place 
is so filled shall not receive any compen- 
sation for the time during which he is so 
absent from duty or his place is so filled, un- 
less such injury or illness was caused by 
service in the department. The services of 
any person employed, and of carts and horses 
hired pursuant to this section, shall be paid 
for in full and directly by the department 
cf street cleaning, at such times as may be 
prescribed by such department; and they, 
and each of them, shall be employed and 
hired directly by the department of street 
cleaning and not through contractors or oth- 
er persons, unless the commissioner himself 
shall determine that this requirement must 
for proper action in a particular instance be 
dispensed w'ith. Nothing herein contained 
shall affect any existing contracts made with 
or by the department of street cleaning in 
regard to the cleaning of Broadway below 
Fourteenth street in said city or the re- 
newal thereof, if deemed best by the com- 
missioner of said department. Neither the 
commissioner of street cleaning, nor any 
deputy commissioner of etheet, cleaning, nor 
any member of the uniformed force of the 
street cleaning department, shall be permit- 
ted to contribute any moneys, directly or 
indirectly, to any political fund, or intended 
to affect legislation for or on behalf of 
the street cleaning department or any mem- 
ber thereof. 

Id.; removal of members of clerical nnd 

uniformed forces. 

Sec. 537. No member of the clerical or uni- 
formed force of the department of street 
cleaning shall be removed until he has been 
informed of the cause of the proposed re- 
moval and has been allowed an opportunity 
of making an explanation and in every case 
of removal the true grounds thereof shall be 
entered upon the records of the department. 
TU’ commissioner of street cleaning shall 


have power, in his discretion, on evidence 
satisfactory to him that a member of the 
uniformed force has been guilty of any legal 
or criminal offense or neglect of duty, vio- 
lation of rules, or neglect or disobedience of 
orders, or incapacity, or absence without 
leave, or conduct injurious to the public 
peace or welfare, or immoral conduct, or any 
breach of discipline, to punish the offending 
party by forfeiting or withholding pay for 
a specified time, suspension without pay dur- 
ing such suspension for a period not exceed- 
ing thirty days, or by dismissal from the 
force, but no more than thirty 

days’ pay or salary shall be for- 
feited or deducted for any offense. The 
said commissioner is also authorized and 
empowered, in his discretion, to deduct and 
withhold pay, salary or compensation from 
any member of members of the force for and 
on account of absence for any cause without 
leave. All fines imposed and pay deducted 
or withheld under the provisions of this sec- 
tion, shall be retained by the comptroller to 
the credit of the apportionment for the de- 
partment of street cleaning, and shall be ap- 
plicable, in the discretion of the commis- 
sioner of street cleaning, to any of the pur- 
poses of said department as if originally ap- 
propriated therefor. Absence without leave 
of any member of the uniformed force for 
five consecutive days shall be deemed and 
held to be a resignation, and the member 
so absent shall at the expiration of said 
period cease to be a member of said force and 
may be dismissed therefrom without notice. 
No leave of absence exceeding twenty days 
in any one year shall be granted or allowed to 
any member of the uniformed force, except 
upon condition that such member shall waive 
or release not less than one-half of all salary, 
pay or compensation and claim thereto or 
any part thereof during such absence. The 
6a id commissioner of street cleaning is here- 
by authorized and empowered, from time to 
time, to make, adopt, enforce rules, orders 
and regulations conformable to the provisions 
of this act for the government, administra- 
tion, discipline and disposition of the said 
department and of the members thereof, and 
to prescribe and define the duties of each 
member. When and as soon as a member of 
the uniformed force has been fined, sus- 
pended, or dismissed the true cause for such 
fine, suspension or dismissal shall be en- 
tered in writing in a book to be kept for that 
purpose by the commissioner of street clean- 
ing, which book shall be a public record. A 
copy of the rules and regulations or of any 
or either of them of the said commissioner 
adopted by him may, when certified by him or 
by his deputy, be given in evidence upon any 
trial, investigation, hearing or proceeding in 
any court or before any tribunal, commis- 
sioner or commissioners, board or competent 
body, with the same force and effect as the 
original. In the event of the removal of any 
member of the clerical or uniformed force, 
he shall have the right to sue out a writ of 
certiorari or other appropriate remedy for 
the purposes of reviewing the action of the 
commissioner or his deputy, and, upon being 
successful upon such proceeding, he shall be 
entitled to be re-instated and to receive full 
pay during the time of his suspension or re- 
moval from office. 

Members of department not liable to 
military or jnry duty. 

Sec. 538. No person holding any office or 
position under the department of street 
cleaning shall be liable to military or jury 
duty. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Division of streets into districts) allot- 
ment of sweepers. 

Sec. 539. All the paved avenues, streets, 
lanes, alleys and places In said city which 
the department of street cleaning Is by this 
act charged with the duty of cleaning, 
shall be cleaned and kept cleaned by hand 
labor, and for that purpose each sweeper 
shall provide himself with such tools and 
Implements as the commissioner of street 
cleaning shall prescribe, and to each sweeper 
shall be allotted a fixed area of street surface 
according to the character of the locality; of 
which allotment a record shall be kept in 
the department of street cleaning and shall 
be a public record, but nothing in this sec- 
tion contained shall be deemed to prevent 
the commissioner of street cleaning from 
causing the labor of the sweepers to be sup- 
plemented by the use of sweeping machines 
In such streets and avenues as to him may 
seem proper. It shall be the duty of the 
commissioner of street cleaning to divide 
the city into a suitable number of districts, 
not exceeding twenty-one, each of which 
shall be under the charge and supervision of 
a district superintendent who shall be direct- 
ly responsible co the general superintendent, 
and also to the commissioner of street clean- 
ing for the cleanliness of his district. Each 
of said districts shall be by said commis- 
sioner subdivided into sections in charge of 
foremen responsible to the district superin- 
tendent, as well as to the general superin- 
tendent, and to the commissioner of street 
cleaning for the cleanliness of his section. It 
shall be the duty of said commissioner of 
street cleaning to make such allotment and 
designation of the area to be covered, and 
the duties to be performed by the uniformed 
force, that each member thereof, except the 
general superintendent and his assistant 
shall have one particular district or section 
in which to perform all the work to which 
he is allotted. But nothing herein contained 
shall be so construed as to prevent the com- 
missioner of street cleaning from transfer- 
ring, at his discretion, members of the uni- 
formed force, from one district or section to 
another, nor from temporarily employing all 
or any numbei of said uniformed force in a 
particular street or streets, section or sec- 
tions. 

Department of clocks; to keep 

wharves, etc., clean. • 

Sec. 540. The department of docks shall 
have power and authority and it is hereby 
made its duty to cause the wharves, piers, 
bulkheads, heads of slips, and portions of 
any streets and places by law committed to 
the custody and control of said department 
of docks, to he thoroughly clean and kept 
clean at all times; and to remove from said 
wharves, piers, bulkheads, heads of slips and 
portions of streets, and to dispose of all 
sweepings, ashes and garbage. And for the 
purpose of disposing of the sweepings and 
other refuse removed by said department of 
docks, the said department of docks shall 
have the right and is hereby authorized to 
use concurrently with the said department of 
street cleaning, such dumping boards, slips 
and piers as may be assigned to and set apart 
for the use of said department of street 
cleaning, and all contracts made by the com- 
missioner of street cleaning under this act 
for the removal of ashes and garbage and 
sweepings shall provide for the removal of 
such ashes, garbage and sweepings, as may 
be required to be removed by said depart- 
ment of docks. 

Commissioner of street cleaning; pow- 
er to obtain plant, supplies, etc. 

Sec. 541. The said commissioner of street 
pjepning shalj have power, and it shalj be 


his duty, to purchase or hire from time to 
time for his use as such commissioner, at 
current prices, such and so many horses, 
carts, steam tugs, scows, boats, vessels, ma- 
chines, tools and other property as may be 
required for the economical and effectual per- 
formance of his aforesaid duty or to con- 
tract for the construction of any such tugs, 
scows, boats, vessels, carts, machines, tools 
or other property; or for the sweeping of 
streets and the removal of street sweepings, 
and also to contract for the cremation, util- 
ization or burning of street sweepings, refuse 
and garbage; or for the melting or removal 
of snow upon or from any streets or avenues 1 
or parts thereof. The title to property so 
purchased or constructed shall be in The 
City of New York. All such hiring, or pur- 
chases, or contracts, however, exceeding one 
thousand dollars in amount at any one hir- 
ing or purchase, shall be let by contract to 
the lowest bidder therefor, founded on sealed 
bids or proposals made in compliance with 
public notice advertised in the City Record; 
such notice to be published at least ten days 
prior to the opening of such proposals or 
bids. Provided, that nothing herein contained 
shall prevent said commissioner, whenever 
it shall be necessary, to hire such horses, 
carts, boats, steam tugs, scows, vessels, ma- 
chines, or tools for a day or trip, and for 
successive days or trips, without advertis- 
ing of contract founded on sealed proposals 
or bids, at compensation by the day or trip, 
notwithstanding the aggregate compensation 
for such successive days or trips may ex- 
ceed said sum of one thousand dollars. The 
said commissioner is hereby authorized, 
whenever and as often as, in his opinion, 
the public interests shall require, to reject 
all bids or proposals received in answer to 
any such advertisement, and to readvertise 
for bids and proposals as hereinafter pro- 
vided. Whenever the said commissioner shall 
deem it necessary, he shall and is hereby 
authorized to sell, at public auction, any 
plant, material, horses, carts, scows or other 
property, used in any way in connection with 
the work of cleaning streets; but before any 
such sale shall be made a notice thereof stat- 
ing the time and place of sale shall be pub- 
lished in the City Record and corporation 
newspapers for at least ten days immediately 
preceding such sale, and the proceeds aris- 
ing from such sale, after deducting the neces- 
sary expenses thereof, shall be paid into 
the city treasury to the credit of the general 
fund for the reduction of taxation. The said 
commissioner is hereby authorized, with the 
consent and approval of the board of sinking 
fund commissioners, to hire or lease for pe- 
riods not exceeding ten years suitable and 
sufficient offices for the transaction of the 
business under his charge, and also such 
stables and other buildings or parts of build- 
ings or plots of ground as may, from time 
to time, be necessary. All carts used by 
said department of street cleaning shall be 
of such size, form and construction as to 
prevent escape during transit of dust, or of 
any refuse carried therein. 

Piers, docks, slips, etc,, for use of de- 
partment. 

Sec. 512. The department, bureau or city 
officer, authority or authorities, which shall 
from time to time have the management and 
control of the public docks, piers and slips 
of the city, shall designate and set apart 
for the use of said commissioner and for 
the borough presidents of the boroughs of 
Queens and Richmond suitable and sufficient 
slips, piers and berths in slips, located as the 
said commissioner or borough presidents may 
require, and such as shalj be convenient and 


G 3 


necessary for his or their use in executing 
the duty hereby imposed upon them, or either 
of them, excepting slips, docks and piers 
on the East river set apart for the use of 
canal boats. The said commissioner or bor- 
ough president may, with the approval, in 
w'riting, of the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment, lease piers, slips or wharves for 
the necessary purposes of the duties by this 
act conferred, upon them or either of them 
whenever suitable piers, slips or wharves 
owned by or under the control of the city 
cannot be obtained or are not set apart and 
designated as in this section provided. 

Iniform. Iiailgea, etc., of uniformed 

force. 

Sec. 543. The commissioner of street clean- 
ing is hereby authorized and directed, from 
time to time, to prescribe distinctive uni- 
forms, badges and insignia to be worn and 
displayed by the several members of the 
uniformed force of said department and to 
prescribe and enforce penalties for the fail- 
ure to wear and exhibit the same by any 
member of said force while engaged in the 
work of the department. 

Special contracts for disposition of 

sweeping;*, ashes, garbage, etc. 

Sec. 544. Said commissioner shall have 
power to enter into contracts with responsi- 
ble persons and parties for the final dis- 
position, for periods not exceeding five years, 
of all or any part of the said street sweep- 
ings, ashes, or garbage, and such other light 
refuse or rubbish when collected; provided 
always that such contract shall be approved 
both as to terms and conditions by the 
beard of estimate and apportionment. All 
contracts shall be entered into on behalf of 
the city by the commissioner with adequate 
security. He shall advertise for proposals 
in such newspapers in the city as he may 
designate, not exceeding threo in number, 
for ten days, to perform the work in such 
form and manner and on such terms and 
conditions as he may prescribe. Such pro- 
posals may be for the performance of all 
or such part or portion of the W'ork as he 
shall require. Each proposal must be ac- 
companied by a certified check on a solvent 
banking corporation in the city, payable to 
the order of the comptroller for five per cent- 
um of the amount for w'bich the work bid for 
is proposed in any one year to be performed. 
From the proposals so received he may se- 
lect the bid or bids, the acceptance of which 
will, in his judgment, best secure the e.Tb 
cient performance of the work, or he may 
reject any or all of said bids. On the ac- 
ceptance of any bid by him, the checks of 
the unaccepted bidders shall be returned to 
them, and upon the execution of the con- 
tract the check of the accepted bidder shall 
be returned to him. The surety or sureties 
upon all contracts hereby authorized shall 
be approved by the comptroller, and all con- 
tracts and bonds securing the same shall be 
approved as to form by the counsel to the 
corporation. The terms and conditions of all 
contracts for street sweeping and cleaning, 
or for the collection of ashes and garbage, 
shall, before they are entered Into, be ap- 
proved by the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment. 

Proceedings for removal of tracks, 

etc., from streets, regulated. 

Sec. 545. It shall be the duty of the com- 
missioner of street cleaning to remove, or 
cause to be removed, all unharnessed trucks, 
carts, wagons and vehicles of any descrip- 
tion, found in any public street or place, and 
also all boxes, barrels, bales or merchandise 
apd other movable property found upon any 


64 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


public street, or place, not Including, how- 
ever, any portion of marginal street, or 
place, or wharf, which, by the provis- 
ion of any law or statute, Is com- 
mitted to the custody and control of the de- 
partment of docks. The said commissioner 
of street cleaning Is hereby authorized, with 
the consent and approval of the board of sink- 
ing fund commissioners, to lease a suitable 
yard or yards to which the trucks, carts, 
wagons and vehicles, boxes, bales, barrels and 
other things, remowed under the authority of 
this section, shall be taken, and the said 
commissioner shaJl, from time to time, so 
often as he shall deem necessary, sell, or 
cause to be sold, as hereinafter provided at 
public auction, at such yard or yards, the 
said trucks, carts, wagons, vehicles, boxes, 
barrels and other things so removed. When- 
ever the said commissioner or deputy com- 
missioner shall have removed or caused to 
be removed any such trucks, carts, wagons, 
vehicles, boxes, barrels, bales or other things, 
and shall deem it necessary to sell them, and 
before making the sale thereof, he shall file 
with a justice of the municipal court of The 
City of New York, a written petition, veri- 
fied by oath, setting forth the facts which 
bring the case within this section, together 
with a brief description of each of the trucks, 
carts, wagons, vehicles, boxes, barrels or 
other things so removed in his custody and 
possession as street cleaning commissioner 
at the time of filing such petition, stating 
either the name of the owner or that his 
name is not known to the said petitioners, 
and cannot be ascertained with reasonable 
diligence, and praying for a final order, di- 
recting the sale of the property so seized or 
removed, and the application of the proceeds 
thereof as herein prescribed; and, upon the 
presentation of said petition the justice must 
issue a precept under his hand, directed to 
the persons whose names appear in the said 
petition as owners, if stated in the petition, 
or if not stated, directed generally to all 
persons having any interest in the property 
so seized and removed, and briefly reciting 
in substance the other facts stated in the pe- 
tition, and requiring the person or persons 
to whom the precept is directed to show 
cause before a justice at a time and place 
specified therein, not less than ten nor more 
than twenty days after the issuing of the 
precept, why the prayer of the petition 
~--V>uld not be granted. The said precept 
shall be served by posting a copy thereof in 
at least two public and conspicuous places 
In said city, one of which shall be the office 
of the said commissioner of street cleaning, 
and the second of which shall be the yard to 
which the property shall have been removed, 
and a copy of which precept shall be so 
posted within three days after the precept 
shall have been issued, and a brief ab- 
stract of said precept shall be published In 
the City Reco.-d and corporation newspapers 
within five days after the issue, and not later 
than three days before the return day men- 
tioned in the precep't. At the time and 
place when the precept is returnable, the said 
commissioner or deputy commissioner must 
furnish proof of th* service of said precept 
as herein prescribed, tjnd any person named 
in the petitl** and precept or otherwise, hav- 
ing an interest in the pioperty seized, may 
appear on the return day of the said precept 
and make himself a party to the proceeding 
by filing a written answer, subscribed by 
him or his attorney, and verified by the oath 
of the person subscribing it, denying abso- 
lutely, or upon information and belief, one 
or more material allegations in the petition, 
and setting forth his interest in the property 


seized. The subsequent proceedings before 
the justice shall be the same as In an action 
in the municipal court where an issue of fact 
has been Joined, and if the decision of the 
Justice is in favor of the petitioner, the jus- 
tice must make a final order, the same as 
though no appearance or trial were had, ex- 
cept to recite the appearance and trial be- 
fore him. If no person appears and answers, 
the justice shall make a final order, directed 
to the commissioner of street cleaning, com- 
manding him to sell, at public auction, all of 
the property seized and described in the peti- 
tion, at the yard to which said property was 
removed, for the best price which he can ob- 
tain therefor. Before making any such sale 
the said commissioner or deputy commission- 
er shall give public notice in the City Record 
and corporation papers, as by this act pre- 
scribed, not later than three days before the 
day of such sale, and such notice of sale 
shall specify the time and place of such sale, 
and shall contain a general description of the 
property to be sold, but no particular de- 
scription of any article shall be contained 
therein. The sale shall be made at the 
time and place specified in said notice of 
sale by the commissioner or deputy com- 
missioner, or by an auctioneer designated 
for such sale by said commissioner. Imme- 
diately after such sale, the commissioner of 
street cleaning shall pay to the comp- 
troller the proceeds of such con- 
demnation and sale and shall, at the 
same time, transmit to the comptroller an 
itemized statement of the articles sold, with 
the price received for each article and a cer- 
tificate of the costs and expenses incurred by 
the said commissioner in making such con- 
demnation and sales. The comptroller shall 
credit and add to the appropriation for the 
department of street cleaning from the pro- 
ceeds of such sale the amount of said costs 
and expenses of such condemnation and sales, 
as hereinbefore provided, and in addition 
thereto, such an amount for each incumbrance 
seized or taken, condemned and sold, as here- 
inbefore provided, not to exceed ten dollars, 
as may be estimated and fixed by the com- 
missioner of street cleaning as necessary to 
pay the cost of seizing, removing and keeping 
or storing such incumbrances; and the re- 
mainder of the moneys realized from such 
sale shall be paid, without interest, to the 
lawful owners of the several articles sold. 
Any payment to a person apparently entitled 
thereto, under the provisions of this section, 
shall be a good defense to the city against 
any other person claiming to be entitled to 
such payment, but if the person to whom such 
payment is made is not in fact entitled there- 
to, it shall be lawful for the person or per- 
sons to whom the same ought, to have been 
paid to recover the same, with interest and 
costs of suit, as so much money had and re- 
ceived to his, her or their use by the person 
or persons to whom the same shall have been 
paid. The owner of any truck, cart, wagon, 
vehicle, box, barrel, bale or other thing re- 
moved from any public street or place under 
the provisions of this section, may redeem his 
property at any time after its removal upon 
payment to the commissioner of street clean- 
ing of such sum as he may fix, not to exceed 
ten dollars for each article redeemed. The 
sum thus paid shall be immediately trans- 
mitted to the comptroller, and by him added 
and credited to the appropriation for the de- 
partment of street cleaning, under the pro- 
visions of this act, and may be used by the 
commissioner for any of the purposes of said 
department, as if originally included In the 
appropriation thereof, by the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment. Nothing in this 
section contained shall be deemed to author- 


ize the summary removal of materials for any 
public work or improvement in course of con- 
struction. 

Limitation of amount of expense for 

street cleaning; bonds to be issued 

by comptroller for purchase of plant. 

Sec. 546. In no case, except as in this sec- 
tion provided, shall the amount expended by 
the commissioner of street cleaning or the 
presidents of the boroughs of Queens and 
Richmond exceed the amount appropriated for 
the said department or boroughs by the board 
of estimate and apportionment and the board 
of aldermen, but, for the more effectual car- 
rying out of the provisions of this act, the 
said commissioner of street cleaning and said 
borough presidents may, with the approval of 
the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment, purchase or construct stock or 
plant, including houses, dumping boards or 
places or buildings or structures necessary 
for any purpose pertaining to the business of 
street cleaning of durable character intend- 
ed to be used for a term of years, to be paid 
for by the issue and sale of bonds. If the 
necessary cost of removing snow or ice from 
the streets and avenues shall, in any one 
year, exceed the amount appropriated there- 
for, the board of estimate and apportionment 
may authorize such additional expenditure 
as may be required for the removal of such 
snow or ice to be paid out of any unexpended 
balance of the appropriation made for the 
purposes of said department; and the comp- 
troller shall raise the amount of such addi- 
tional expenditure by the issue and sale of 
revenue bonds, and shall place the amount so 
raised to the credit of the department .of 
street cleaning, or of said borough presidents, 
as the same may have been apportioned by 
the board of estimate and apportionment to 
supply the amount of the deficiency occa- 
sioned by such additional expenditure. 

Devolntion of powers of former 

boards. 

Sec. 547. All the powers and duties con- 
ferred upon the corporation heretofore known 
as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of 
the city of New York, or upon any board or 
officer thereof, or upon the corporation 
known as the city of Brooklyn, or upon any 
bojrd or officer thereof, or upon the cor- 
poration known as Long Island City, or upon 
any board or officer thereof, and upon any 
other municipal corporation, town or village, 
within the county of Richmond, or within 
so much of the territory of , the county of 
Queens as is by this act annexed to the muni- 
cipal corporation known as the mayor, al- 
dermen and commonalty of the city of New 
York, and consolidated Into the municipality 
known as The City of New York, relating In 
any way to the sweeping and the cleaning 
of the streets, avenues, highways, boulevards, 
squares, lanes, alleys and other public 
places of the city and of the removal, 
or other disposition as often as the 
public health and the use of the streets 
may require, of ashes, street sweep- 
ings, garbage and other light refuse and 
rubbish, and of the removal of snow and ice 
from leading thoroughfares and from such 
other streets as may be found practicable; of 
the removal of encumbrances; of the issue of 
permits to builders and others to use the 
streets, avenues, highways, boulevards, 
squares, and public- places, but not to open 
them; of the framing of regulations controll- 
ing the use of sidewalks and gutters by abut- 
ting owners and occupants for the disposition 
of sweepings, refuse, garbage or light rub- 
bish, are hereby vested in The City of New 
York, and as matters of administration da- 


i 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


65 


1 ( 

volved jipon the commissioner of street clean- 
ing of said city, as to the boroughs of Manhat- 
tan, The Bronx and Brooklyn, and upon the 
presidents of Queens and Richmond as to 
those boroughs, to be by them executed pur- 
suant to the powers, provisions and limita- 
tions of this act. 


TITLE 4. 

DEPARTMENT OF BRIDGES. 

Commissioner, appointment and sal- 
ary. 

Sec. 594. The head of the department of 
bridges shall be called the commissioner of 
bridges. He shall be appointed by the mayor 
and hold office as provided in chapter four 
of this act. His salary shall be seven thou- 
sand five hundred dollars a year. 

Id.; Jnrisdiction. 

Sec. 595. The commissioner of bridges shall 
have cognizance and control: 

(1) Of the management and maintenance of 
the New York and Brooklyn bridge. 

(2) Of the operation of the railroad on the 
New York and Brooklyn bridge. 

(3) Of the collection of fares and of tolls 
on the New York and Brooklyn bridge. 

(4) Of the construction, repair, maintenance 
and management of all other bridges, that 
may at any time hereafter be constructed in 
whole or in part at the expense of The City 
of New York, or that may be acquired by 
said city, which extend across the waters of 
a navigable stream, or have a terminus in 
two or more boroughs. 

(5) Of the construction, repair, maintenance 
and management of all other bridges that 
are or may be in whole or in part a public 
charge, not included in public parks, or 
within the control of a president of a borough, 
within th% territory of The City of New York. 
The board of commissioners established by 
chapter seven hundred and eighty-nine of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-five 
is hereby abolished, and all its powers and 
duties are hereby devolved upon the commis- 
sioner of bridges of The City of New York. 
The engineering and clerical force of said 
board is hereby transferred to the depart- 
ment of bridges of The City of New York; 
provided, however, that nothing herein con- 
tained shall prevent the commissioner of 
bridges from abolishing unnecessary offiees 
or positions, or shall in any way limit his 
powers of removal as determined by tbis act. 

(6) Of the construction, repair, maintenance 
and management of all tunnels that hereafter 
may be constructed in whole or in part at the 
expense of The City of New York or that may 
be acquired by said city which extend across 
the waters of a navigable stream or have a 
terminus in two or more boroughs; provided, 
however, that nothing in this section con- 
tained shall in any way limit or affect the 
powers now possessed by the board of rapid 
transit railroad commissioners. 

Id.; to make daily report to comp- 
troller. 

Sec. 596. The said commissioner shall 
keep accurate accounts of all moneys re- 
ceived or collected by his department for 
fares, tolls and any other purpose, in such 
form as the comptroller of the city or the 
ordinances of the board of aldermen shall re- 
quire, and he shall pay over the same daily 


to the chamberlain and make a daily report 
of the same to the comptroller. 

Persons not affected by passage of this 
act; exceptions. 

Sec. 597. The engineers, officers and sub- 
ordinates, with the exception of the attor- 
neys and counsel, of the New' York and 
Brooklyn bridge in office or employment at 
the time of the passage of this act and here- 
tofore appointed by the trustees of the New 
York and Brooklyn bridge shall not be af- 
fected by the passage of this act so far as 
their positions are concerned, but shall con- 
tinue to hold such places and positions under 
the commissioner of bridges, subject to the 
provisions of this act. 

The New York anti Brooklyn bridge, n 
public highway. 

Sec. 598. The New York and Brooklyn 
bridge is hereby declared to be a public high- 
way for the purpose of rendering travel be- 
tween the boroughs of Manhattan and Brook- 
lyn certain and safe at all times, subject 
to such tolls and prudential and police regu- 
lations as the board of aldermen shall adopt 
and prescribe; provided, however, that the 
passageway of the bridge now set apart for 
foot passengers shall remain free and open to 
all pedestrians coming or going at all times. 

Concurrent jnrisdiction in borongln of 
New York and Brooklyn over crimes, 
etc., committed on the said bridge. 

Sec. 599. Concurrent jurisdiction Bhall be i 
possessed by all courts located In the borough 
of Manhattan, and by all courts located in 
the borough of Brooklyn, and by judicial 
and administrative officers of The City of New 
York, over all crimes and offenses commit- 
ted upon said bridge and upon any other 
bridge tjiat may hereafter be erected between 
the two boroughs. It shall be the duty of 
said commissioner of bridges, and he hereby 
is authorized to execute the ordinances of 
the board of aldermen, relative to said bridges 
and to have in Immediate charge, the control 
and disposition of such members of the police 
force of The City of New York, as may be 
assigned for duty ir. his department. 

Certain acts declared to be misde- 
meanors; penalties lor. 

Sec. 609. Any person wilfully doing any 
injury to any of said bridges or any of’ their 
appurtenances, shall forfeit and pay to the 
said city of New York three times the amount 
of such injury, and shall be deemed guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and be subject to a pen- 
alty not exceeding five hundred dollars, and 
to imprisonment not exceeding six months, 
lu the discretion of the court. 

Devolution of power of former boards, 
etc. 

Sec. 601. Upon the appointment of the com- 
missioner of bridges, the respective offices of 
the trustees of the New York and Brooklyn 
bridge shall be and they hereby are declared 
abolished and all the powers and duties vest- 
ed in and devolved upon said trustees of the 
New York and Brooklyn bridge by any law 
or statute shall, sc far as they are consistent 
with and conformable to the provisions of 
this act, be devolved upon the commissioner 
of bridges of The City of New York and upon 
the board of aldermen, and they shall in all 
respects exercise such duties and perform 
such powers, subject, however, to the provis- 
ions, directions and limitations of this act. 


CHAPTER Xn. 

DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. 

Title 1. The parks of the city. 

Title 2. The art commission. 

TITLE 1. 

THE PARKS. 

Administrative jurisdiction; board; 

president; salaries. 

Sec. 607. The head of the department of 
parks shall be called the park board. Saifl 
board shall consist of three members who 
shall be known as commissioners of parks of 
The City of New York. They shall be ap- 
pointed by the mayor and shall hold thejr 
respective offices as provided in chapter four 
of this act. One of said commissioners shall 
be the president of the board and shall be so 
designated by the mayor. In appointing 
such commissioners, the mayor shall specify 
the borough or boroughs in which they are 
respectively to have administrative jurisdic • 
tion, to wit: one in the boroughs of Manhat- 
tan and Richmond; one in the borough of 
The Bronx, and one in the boroughs of 
Brooklyn and Queens. The principal office 
of the department of parks shall be in tho 
borough of Manhattan. There shall bo 
branch offices in the borough of Brooklyn 
and The Bronx. The salary of each of said 
commissioners shall be five thousand dollars 
a year. 

Title to parks, squares and public 

places. 

i Sec. 608. The title to each and all of the 
parks, parkways, squares and public places 
comprised within and belonging to the cor- 
poration heretofore known as the mayor, al- 
dermen aiyl commonalty of The CHy of New 
York, or the corporation heretofore known 
as the city of Brooklyn, or the corporation 
heretofore known as Long Island City, 
or tho county of Kings, or the county of 
Richmond, or which are owned by the county 
of Queens and are comprised within that por- 
tion of said county which Is included in 
The Cit.y of New York, as constituted by 
thi3 act, or belonging to any of the subdi- 
visions of said counties, is hereby vested in 
The City of New York, as hereby consti- 
tuted. 

Gifts of real and personal property. 

See. 609. Real and personal property may 
be granted, devised, bequeathed or conveyed 
to The City of New York, as constituted 
by this act. for the purposes of the im- 
provement or ornamentation of the parks, 
squares, or public places in said city, or 
for the establishment or maintenance, with- 
in the limits of any such park, square, or 
public place, of museums, zoological, bo- 
tanical or other gardens, collections of nat- 
ural history, observatories, or works ot 
art, upon such trusts and conditions as may 
be prescribed by the grantors or donors 
thereof, and be accepted by the department; 
and all property so devised, granted, be- 
queathed, or conveyed, and the rents, is- 
sues, profits, and Income and increase there- 
of shall be subject to the management, di- 
rection and control of the commissioner for 
the borough or boroughs in which the same 
is situated or to which it appertains, and 
except such surplus animals and duplicate 
specimens as the park board may deem it 
judicious to dispose of by sale or otherwise, 
the same shall be forever properly pro- 
tected, preserved and arranged for public 
use and enjoyment, subject to such rules 
and regulations as the park board may pre- 


66 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


scribe; provided, however, that whenever the 
park board shall determine to discontinue 
the maintenance of the zoological collection 
In Central Park It shall be lawful for said 
board, with the approval of the mayor and 
the board of estimate and apportionment, to 
transfer such eoljectlon to the New York 
Zoological Society. The said board shall 
hereafter, with its annual report, make a 
statement of the condition of all the gifts, 
devises and bequests of the previous year, 
and of the names of the persons making the 
same. 

General powers of the board: ordi- 
nance*. 

Sec. 610. The board of aldermen shall by 
general ordinances from time to time estab- 
lish all needful rules and regulations for 
the government and protection of the pub- 
lic parks and of all property placed in charge 
of the park board and under its control by 
the provisions of this chapter, and the same 
shall at all times be subject to all such 
ordinances as to the use and occupation 
thereof and In respect to any erections or 
encumbrances thereon. The park board 
shall have power to establish and enforce 
general rules and regulations for the ad- 
ministration of the department, and, sub- 
ject to t{ie ordinances of the board of al- 
dermen, to establish and enforce rules and 
regulations for the government and pro- 
tection of the public parks and of all prop- 
erty in charge of said board or under its 
control, which rules and regulations so far 
as practicable shall be uniform in all the 
boroughs. All ordinances, rules and regu- 
lations of the park board which on the 
first day of January, nineteen hundred and 
two, shall be in force in The City of New 
York, are hereby continued in full force 
and effect until modified or repealed by the 
establishment of new ordinances, rules or 
regulations, as herein provided. Any person 
violating any ordinances relating to the 
parks or other property mentioned in this 
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor 
and shall on conviction before a city mag- 
istrate be punished by a fine not exceeding 
fifty dollars, or in default of payment of 
such fine by imprisonment not exceeding 
thirty days. 

Landscape architect: appointment and 
duties. 

Sec. 611. The board may employ when 
thereto authorized by the board of estimate 
and apportionment, a landscape architect, 
skilled and expert, whose assent shall be 
requisite to all plans and works or changes 
thereof respecting the conformation, devel- 
opment or ornamentation of any of the 
parks, squares, or public places of the city, 
to the end that the same may be uniform 
and symmetrical at all times. It shall be 
the duty of such architect, from t}me to 
time, to prepare and submit to the board, 
or to any commissioner, as he may deem 
proper, or as he may be requested by said 
board or by any commissioner, plans for 
works or changes thereof respecting the 
parks, parkways, squares or public places 
of the city. 

General powers of commissioner* as 
to the lunnageement of parks. 

Sec. 612. Subject to such general rules and 
leguiations as shall be established by the 
board, each commissioner shall have charge 
of the management and be responsible for 
the care of all such parks, parkways, squares 
and public places as are situated in borough 
or boroughs, over which nc has jurisdiction, 
and of the str*%t6 airti avenues immediately 


adjoining the same; but such jurisdiction 
shall not extend to nor include the buildings 
which are now or may hereafter be erected 
in such parks, squares or public places for 
governmental purposes other than those of 
the department of parks. It shall be the 
duty of each commissioner, subject to such 
general rules and regulations and in con- 
formity therewith, to maintain the beauty 
and utility of all such parks, squares and 
public places as are situated within his juris- 
diction, and to institute and execute all 
measures for the improvemefrt thereof for 
ornamental purposes and for the beneficial 
uses of the people of the city. Subject to the 
general rules and regulations established by 
the board, each commissioner shall have 
power to authorize and regulate the projec- 
tions on and determine the line or curb and 
the surface construction of all streets and 
avenues lying within any park, square or 
public place in his jurisdiction, or within 
a distance of three hundred and fifty 
feet from the outer boundaries there- 
of; and he shall also have power to 
plant trees and to construct, erect and estab- 
lish seats, drinking fountains, statues and 
works of art when he may deem it tasteful 
or appropriate so to do on any part of the 
public streets and avenues within such en- 
vironments, subject to the provisions of title 
two of this chapter, and to determine when 
and -where new lamps or lighting appliances 
shall be placed and lighted. 

Sec. 2. This act shall not apply to any 
railroad or railroads now constructed within, 
upon or over any park or public place within 
the jurisdiction of the commissioners afore- 
said or affect any pending action or proceed- 
ing. As amended by Laws of 1901, chapter 
723. 

Maintenance and management of 

Buildings in Parks. 

Sec. 613. It shall be the dutv of the com- 
missioner for the boroughs of Manhattan and 
Richmond to maintain the meteorological and 
astronomical observatory, the Museum of 
Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art in Central park, the Aquarium in Bat- 
tery place, and such other buildings as now 
are or may hereafter be erected in such parks 
or in any other park, square or public place 
under his jurisdiction by authority of the 
hoard of aldermen. It shall be the duty of 
the commissioner for the boroughs of Brook- 
lyn and Queens to maintain the Brooklyn In- 
stitute of Arts and Sciences, and such other 
buildings as now are or may hereafter be 
erected in any park, square or public place 
under his jurisdiction by authority of the 
board of aldermen. It shall be the duty of 
the commissioner for the borough of The 
Bronx to maintain the New York Botanical 
Garden and the buildings appurtenant there- 
to, and such other institutions or buildings 
as may be established or erected in any park, 
square or public place in his jurisdiction by 
authority of the board of aldermen. It shall 
be the duty of the several commissioners to 
provide the necessary instruments, furniture 
and equipments for the several buildings and 
institutions within their respective jurisdic- 
tions, and, with the authority of the board of 
aldermen, to develop and improve the same, 
and to erect additional buildings; but the 
maintenance of all such buildings and insti- 
tutions shall be subject to the provisions of 
the acts incorporating said institutions, or 
either of them, and the acts amendatory 
thereof, and to the powers of said corpora- 
tions thereunder, and of the boards by such 
acts created or provided for; and shall also 
be subject to and in conformity with such 
contracts and agreements as have heretofore 


been made with such institutions respective- 
ly, and are in force and effect when this act 
takes effect, or as may be hereafter made by 
the authority of the board of aldermen, and 
no moneys shall he expended for such pur- 
poses unless an appropriation therefor has 
been made by the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment and the board of aldermen. Out 
of the moneys annually appropriated for the 
maintenance of parks each commissioner may 
apply such sum as shall be fixed by the board 
of estimate and apportionment for the keep- 
ing, preservation and exhibition of the col- 
lections placed or contained in buildings or 
institutions now situated or hereafter erected 
in the parks, squares or public places under 
the jurisdiction of such commissioner. 
Appo«kntincnt of subordinate officer*. 

Sec. 614. The park board shall have power 
to appoint a secretary jin'” uieh subordinate 
officers as may be nece - for the proper 
conduct of the office of the Jepartment. Each 
commissioner shall have power to appoint 
such superintendents, engineers, subordinates, 
clerks and assistants as may be necessary 
for the efficient performance of the duties of 
the department respecting the parks, squares 
and public places within his jurisdiction and 
also have power to employ all of the mechan- 
ics, agents or laborers needed or required for 
the work of the department in the parks, 
squares and public places in his Jurisdiction 
within the limits of the proper appropriation. 
Each commissioner shall hava in immediate 
charge the control and disposition of such 
members of the police force of The City of 
New York, as constituted by this act, as may 
be assigned for duty in the parks, squares 
or public places subject to his jurisdiction. 

Permits for bnildings for Are appa- 
ratus. 

Sec. 615. Each commissioner is hereby au- 
thorized in his discretion, on the application 
in writing of the fire commissioner, to per- 
mit a building or buildings for fire apparatus 
to be placed in any of the parks, squares or 
public places situated within the jurisdiction 
of such commissioner of parks, provided the 
said building or buildings are so located and 
constructed as, in the judgment of the com- 
missioner granting such permission, will not 
disfigure or encumber the said park, square 
or public place, or interfere with the purposes 
of public use and recreation, but will tend to 
the protection of the public and their prop- 
erty. 

General powers of commissioners un- 
der former acts.- 

Sec. 616. The park board shall in addition 
to the powers, rights and duties expressly 
conferred or imposed upon it by this act, 
possess and exercise all the powers, rights 
and duties and shall be subject to all the 
obligations heretofore vested in, conferred 
upon or required of the corporation known 
as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty 
of The City of New York, or the de- 
partment of parks in said city or 
the commissioners of parks, or in any 
other board, body or officer therein or there- 
of, or any commission, commissioner, body, 
beard or officer in or for the county of Rich- 
mond, or the corporation known as the city 
of Brooklyn, or the department of parks in 
and for said city, or the commissioners of 
parks, or any commission, commissioner, 
body, board or officer of said city or of the 
county of Kings, or any commissioner, body, 
board or officer in or for the county of 
Queens, so far as such powers, rights, du- 
ties and obligations concerned or affected '.he 
control, care, management, government, ex- 
tension, maintenance or administrative juri 3 - 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


67 


diction of the parks, squares and other pub- 
lic places situated or lying within The City 
of New York as constituted by this act cr 
which have since been or may hereafter be 
opened or established therein, so far as the 
same are not inconsistent with this act. Noth- 
ing contained in this section shall be con- 
strued to limit the administrative control of 
the several commissioners over the parks, 
squares or public places situated or lying 
within their respective jurisdictions. 

Accounts; annual estimates; expendi- 
tures. 

Sec. 617. Each commissioner shall keep ac- 
curate and detailed accounts, in a form ap- 
proved by the comptroller of all moneys re- 
ceived and expended by him, the sources from 
which they are received and the purposes for 
which they are expended. Each commission- 
er shall, on or before the first day of Sep- 
tember in each year prepare an itemized es- 
timate of his necessary expenses for the en- 
suing fiscal year and present the same to 
the board. The three estimates so prepared, 
as revised by the board, shall together con- 
stitute the annual estimate of the department 
of parks, and shall be submitted to the board 
of estimate and apportionment within the 
time prescribed by this act for the submis- 
sion of estimates for the several departments 
of the city. No commissioner shall incur any 
expense for any purpose in excess of the 
amount appropriated therefor; nor, shall be 
expend any money so appropriated for any 
purpose other than that for which it was ap- 
propriated. It shall be the duty of the board 
of estimate and apportionment and of the 
board of aldermen to provide in the annual 
budget the proportionate part of the appro- 
priation for the department of parks applic- 
able to the administration of each commis- 
sioner. 

Advertisements for supplies. 

Sec. 618. The board shall from time to time 
as may be necessary, advertise in the City 
Record and corporation newspapers for not 
less than ten days, for the proposals for such 
articles and supplies as shall be necessary to 
be used in the parks, squares and public 
places of the city, and shall award contracts 
for the same to the lowest bidders, who shall 
give adequate security for the faithful per- 
formance of such contracts, excepting such 
perishable articles as may be excepted by the 
rules and regulations of the board. In case 
of an emergency each commissioner may pur- 
chase articles immediately required without 
calling for competition at an expense not ex- 
ceeding one thousand dollars during any one 
month. 

Battery place; boat landings. 

Sec. 619. The commissioner for the bor- 
oughs of Manhattan and Richmond shall have 
power and control over all that portion of 
Battery place lying south of the line of the 
south side of pier number one, North river, 
and west of the easterly line of West street, 
extended in a southerly direction, and also 
over the waters of the North river and 
soil under the waters thereof, in front 
of said portion of Battery place, and 
to the extent of two hundred feet westerly 
from the -westerly end of said Battery place; 
and it shall be lawful for such commissioner 
to erect, construct and maintain on said part 
of Battery place, and over or on the lands 
under water before mentioned, suitable 
buildings, docks, piers, or basins for the ac- 
commodation of small boats that may be en- 
gaged in the business of attending on ship- 
ping lying in the said river, or the bay or 
harbor of New York, and also to make, pre- 
scribe and enforce, from time to time, sueh 
rules and regulations for the use and enjoy- 


ment of the same, as to the commissioners 
shall seem meet and proper for the public 
interest. Such commissioner may also pre- 
scribe and enforce like rules and ordinances 
for the control and government of all small 
boats frequenting or using the water basin 
at the south end of the Battery. 

Harlem river improvement. 

Sec. 620. It shall be the duty of the com- 
missioner for the boroughs of Manhattan and 
Richmond to continue and complete every 
and all plan or plans, work or construction, 
respecting the improvement of Harlem river, 
heretofore devolved upon the department of 
public parks of the corporation known as the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York, by chapter five hundred and 
thirty-four of the laws of eighteen hundred 
and seventy-one, and by all acts or parts of 
acts amendatory thereof, so far as the same 
remain to be continued and completed ac- 
cording to the provisions of that act or its 
amendments. 

Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Sec. 621. The commissioner for the bor- 
oughs of Manhattan and Richmond i3 here- 
by authorized and directed to continue the 
contract with the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art for the occupation by It of the build- 
ings erected or to be erected on that por- 
tion of the Central park east of the old re- 
ceiving reservoir, and bounded on the west 
by the drive, on the east by the Fifth ave- 
nue, on the south by a continuation of Eighti- 
eth street, and on the north by a continu- 
ation of Eighty-fifth street, and for trans- 
ferring thereto and establishing and main- 
taining therein its museum, library and col- 
lections, and carrying out the objects and 
purposes of the said Museum of Art. 

American Museum of Natural History. 

Sec. 622. The commissioner tor the bor- 
oughs of Manhattan and Richmond is here- 
by authorized and directed to continue the 
contract with the American Museum of Natr 
ural History for the occupation by it of the 
building erected, or to be erected, on that 
portion of the Central park formerly known 
as Manhattan square, and for establishing 
and maintaining therein its museums, libra- 
ry and collections, and carrying out the ob- 
jects and purposes of said museum. 

New York Public Library. 

Sec. 623. Whenever, pursuant to lawful 
authority, the land at present occupied by 
the reservoir at Fifth avenue and For- 
tieth and Forty-second streets shall be 
made a public park, and the removal 
of said reservoir shall have been duly author- 
ized and directed, the commissioner for the 
boroughs of Manhattan and Richmond is 
hereby authorized and directed to make and 
enter into a contract with the New York 
public library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden 
foundations, a corporation duly organized 
under the law's of this state, for the use 
and occupation of said land, or of any part 
thereof, by the said corporation and its suc- 
cessors, for establishing and maintaining 
thereon a free public library and reading 
room, and for carrying out the objects and 
purposes of said corporation in accordance 
with the provisions of the agreement of 
consolidation between the trustees of the 
Astor library, of the Lenox library and of 
the Tilden trust, and the several acts in- 
corporating the said several corporations; 
and said contract may provide that such use 
and occupation shall continue so long as 
the said the New York public library, Astor, 
Lenox and Tilden foundations, or its suc- 
cessors, shall maintain such free public li- 
brary and reading room upon said land. 


Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sci- 
ences. 

Sec. 624. The commissioner of the bor- 
oughs of Brooklyn and Queens is hereby 
authorized and directed to continue the con- 
tract and lease with the Brooklyn Institute 
of Arts and Sciences, for the occupation by 
it of park lands and of a building or build- 
ings erected or to be erected on that por- 
tion of Prospect park hounded by the East- 
ern park-way on the north, Washington ave- 
nue on the east, a line parallel to Old Presi- 
dent street, and one hundred feet south of 
the southerly line of said street, on the 
south, and on the west by the easterly line 
of land reserved for Prospect Hill reservoir, 
and in continuation thereof, for establishing 
and maintaining therein its museum, library 
and collections. For carrying out the plans 
and purposes of said institute and for the 
maintenance of said museum building or 
buildings, and for the keeping, preservation 
and exhibition of collections placed therein, 
a sum not less than twenty thousand dollars 
shall be appropriated annually by the said 
city of New York, as constituted by this act. 
New York Botanical Garden. 

Sec. 625. The commissioner for the borough 
of The Bronx is hereby authorized and 
directed to carry out the existing contract 
made by and between the department of 
parks of the corporation heretofore known 
as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of 
the city of New York and the board of mana- 
gers of the corporation known as the New 
York Botanical Garden pursuant to the pro- 
visions of chapter tw r o hundred and eighty- 
five of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-one, entitled "An act to provide for 
the establishment of a botanic garden and 
museum and arboretum in Bronx park in 
The City of New York and to incorporate 
the New York botanical garden for carrying 
on the same,” as amended by chapter one 
hundred and three of the laws of eighteen 
hundred and ninety-four, which contract 
provides for the allotting and setting apart 
for the uses of said garden of two hun- 
dred and fifty acres of land or less In the 
northern part of Bronx park as shown 
upon a certain map thereof numbered five 
hundred and sixty eight, and signed by 
Messrs, Vaux and Parsons, and filed with the 
former department of public parks of the 
corporation known as the mayor, aldermen 
and commonalty of the city of New York. 

New York Zoological Garden. 

Sec. 626. The commissioner for the borough 
of The Bronx is hereby authorized and direct- 
ed to carry out the contract made by and be- 
tween the department of public parks and 
the sinking fund commissioners of the cor- 
poration heretofore known as the mayor, al- 
derman and commonalty of the city of New 
York, with the board of managers of the 
corporation known as the New York Zoolog- 
ical Society, pursuant to the provisions of 
chapter four hundred and thirty-five of the 
laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-five, en- 
titled “An act to incorporate the New York 
Zoological Society and to provide for the es- 
tablishment of a zoological garden in ihe 
city of New York,” if such a contract shall 
have been entered into prior to the passage 
of this act. If no such contract shall have 
been entered into by the said department of 
parks and the said sinking fund commission- 
ers prior to the passage of this act, then and 
in that case the said commissioner for the 
borough of The Bronx, with the consent and 
approval of the sinking fund commissioners 
of the City of New York, as constituted by 
this act, is hereby authorized to enter into a 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


contract in behalf of The City of New York 
with said New York Zoological Society al- 
lotting and setting apart for the use of said 
society, a tract of land in Bronx park in said 
borough of The Bronx upon such terms and 
conditions as shall be approved by the said 
commissioner and said sinking fund com- 
missioners. 

Military encampments and evolutions! 

public fairs. 

Sec. 627. No military encampment, parade, 
drill, review, or other military evolution, or 
exercise, shall be held or performed in any 
park, or in any part thereof without permit 
from the commissioner within whose juris- 
diction such park is situated. No military 
officer shall have authority to OTder, direct 
or hold any such parade, drill, review or oth- 
er evolutions or exercise, or encampment 
■within any park, except in case of riot, in- 
■urreetlon, rebellion or war, without such 
permit It shall not be lawful to grant, use 
or occupy, for the purposes of a public fair 
or exhibition, any portion of any park, square 
or public place. 

TITLE 2. 

ART COMMISSION. 

Art commission; bow constituted. 

Sec. 633. There shall be an art commission 
for The City of New York, composed as fol- 
lows: 

1. The Mayor of The City of New York, ex 

officio. 

2. The president of the Metropolitan Mu- 
seum of Art, ex officio. 

8. The president of the New York Public 
Library — (Astor, Lenox and Tilden founda- 
tions), ex officio. 

4. The president of the Brooklyn Institute 
of Arts and Sciences, ex officio. 

One painter, one sculptor and one architect, 
all residents of The City of New York; and 
three other residents of said city, none of 
■whom shall be a painter, sculptor or archi- 
tect or member of any other profession in 
the fine ants. All of the Six last mentioned 
shall be appointed by the mayor from a list, 
of not less than three times the number to be 
appointed, proposed by the Fine Arts Feder- 
ation of New York. In all matters of which 
auch commission takes cognizance pertaining 
to work under the special charge of a com- 
missioner or department, the commissioner 
having such special charge shall act as a 
member of the commission. 

Members of commission) how cbosen; 

vacancies. 

Sec. 634. The painter, sculptor and archi- 
tect, members of the commission, shall 
choose by lot one, two and three year terms 
of office; the three other appointed members 
of the commission shall also choose by lot 
one, two and three year terms of office, and 
the appointment of their successors, after 
the expiration of the first year of this com- 
mission, shall be for a term of three years. 
All appointments to fill vacancies shall be for 
the unexpirod term. Iu case any vacancy 
shall occur in the commission, by reason of 
death, resignation, incapacity, refusal to 
serve, or otherwise, the vacancy shall be 
filled by appointment, as provided in section 
six hundred and thirty-three of this act. In 
ease the Fine Arts Federation shall fail to 
present a list of nominees as aforesaid with- 
in three months from the time when any ap- 
pointment is to be made, the mayor shall 
appoint without such nomination. 


Officers. 

Sec. 635. The commission shall serve with- 
out compensation as such, and shall elect a 
president, vice president and secretary from 
Its own members, whose terms of office shall 
be for one year and until their successors are 
elected and have qualified. JThe commission 
shall have power to adopt own rules of 
procedure. Five commissioners shall consti- 
tute a quorum. 

Offices to be provided; expenses, bow 

met. 

Sec. 636. Suitable offices shall be provided 
for the commission by the board of estimate 
and apportionment. The expenses of the 
commission shall be paid by the city and the 
amount of the same shall be fixed annually 
by the board of estimate and apportionment 
and the board of aldermen. 

All works ol nrt to be submitted to 

and approved by the commission. 

Sec. 637. Hereafter no work of art shall be- 
come the property of The City of New York, 
by purchase, gift or otherwise, unless such 
work of art or a design of the same, together 
with a statement of tlje proposed location »t 
such work of art, shall first have been sub- 
mitted to and approved by the commission; 
nor shall such work of art until so approved 
be erected or placed in or upon, or allowed to 
extend over or upon any street, avenue, 
square, common, park, municipal building, or 
other public place belonging to the city. The 
commission may, when they deem proper, 
also require a complete model of the proposed 
work of art to be submitted. The term "work 
of art" as used in this title shall apply to and 
include all' paintings, mural decorations, 
stained glass, statues, bas reliefs or other 
sculptures; monuments, fountains, arches, or 
other structures of a permanent character 
intended for ornament or commemoration. 
No existing work of art in the possession of 
the city shall be removed, relocated or al- 
tered in any way without the similar approv- 
al of the commission, except provided in 
section six hundred and thirty-nine of this 
act. When so requested by the mayor or 
the board of aldermen the commission shall 
act in a similar capacity, wiOi similar pow- 
ers, in respect of the designs of municipal 
buildings, bridges, approaches, gates, fences, 
lamps or other structures erected or to be 
erected upon land belonging to the city, and 
in respect to the lines, grades and plotting of 
public ways and g*ounds, and in respect 
of arches, bridges, structures and approaches 
which are the property of any corporation or 
private individual, and which shall extend 
over or upon any street, avenue, highway, 
park or public place belonging to the city, 
and said commission shall so act and its ap- 
proval shall be required for every such 
structure which shall hereafter be erected or 
contracted for at an expense exceeding one 
million dollars. But this section shall nothe 
construed as intended to impair the power of 
the park board to refuse its consent to the 
erection or acceptance of public monuments 
or memorials or other works of art of any 
sort within any park, square or public place 
in the city. 

Tim® for decision limited. 

Sec. 638. If the commission shall fail to de- 
cide upon any matter submitted to it within 
sixty days after such submission, its deci- 
sion shall be deemed unnecessary. 

Removal or relocation of works of 

art; duty of commission. 

Sec. 639. In case the immediate removal or 
relocation of any existing work of art shall 


be deemed necessary by the mayor, the com- 
mission shall within forty-eight hours after 
notice from him approve or disapprove of 
such removal or relocation, and in case of 
their failure so to act within forty-eight 
hours after the receipt of such notice, they 
shall be deemed to have approved of the 
same. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

PUBLIC CHARITIES. 

Title 1. Department of Public Charities. 
Title 2. Bellevue and Allied Hospitals in 
The City Of New York. 

TITLE I. 

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CHARITIES. 

Commissioner of public charities; ju- 
risdiction; salary. 

Sec. 658. The head of the department of 
public charities shall be called the com- 
missioner of public charities. The term of 
office of the members of the boaTd of public 
charities, except the president thereof, ap- 
pointed pursuant to the provisions of the 
Greater New York charter shall cease and 
determine on the first day of January, nine- 
teen hundred and two, and the president of 
the said board of public charities shall there- 
upon become the commissioner of public 
charities. The salary of the commissioner 
of public charities shall be seven thousand 
five hundred dollars a year. The principal 
office of the department shall be in the bor- 
ough of Manhattan. There may be a branch 
office in each of the other boroughs. 

Rules nud reenlations; subordinate 
officers. 

Sec. 659. The said commissioner shall have 
power to establish general rules arid regula- 
tions for the administration of the depart- 
ment and the government of the institution 
under its jurisdiction, except the institu- 
tions specified in gection six hundred and 
sixty-one of this act, and except as provided 
in title two of this chapter, and such general 
rules and regulations shall be so far as prac- 
ticable uniform in all the boroughs. The 
commissioner shall have power to appoint 
and in his discretion to remove not more 
than two deputies, to be known as first dep- 
uty and second deputy, and shall define their 
duties. The first deputy shall during the 
absence or disability of the commissioner 
possess all the powers and perform all the 
duties of the commissioner except the power 
of making appointments. In the absence or 
disability of both the commissioner and the 
first deputy the second deputy shall possess 
all the powers and perform all the duties of 
the commissioner, except the power of malt- 
ing appointments. The commissioner, with- 
in the limits of his appropriation, shall have 
power to appoint and remove subject to the 
the requirements of the civil service laws 
such subordinate officers and assistants as 
may be necessary for the efficient perform- 
ance of his duties as said commissioner. 

Public institutions under tjie jurisdic- 
tion of the commissioner. 

Sec. 660. The commissioner shall have ju- 
risdiction over, and it shall be his duty to 
take charge of and to establish and enforce 
rules and regulations for all hospitals, asy- 
lums, almshouses and other Institutions be- 
longing to or hereafter acquired or estab- 
lished by The City of New York, which are 
or shall be devoted to the care of the feeble- 
minded. the sick, the infirm and the desti- 
tute; except the island known as Ward’ a 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


69 


Island and the buildings and improvements 
thereon, and the equipment, fixtures and 
furniture of the asylums for the insane on 
said island during the continuance 
of the lease thereof heretofore made 
by The City of New York to the 
State of New York, and except the 
hospitals specified in title two of this 
chapter and such other institutions as are by 
law placed under the charge of some other 
department or board. Such buildings and 
grounds on Blackwell’s Island as are now 
used for the care of the insane pursuant to 
the provisions of chapter two of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and ninety-six shall, when 
the insane shall have been removed there- 
from, and the buildings and grounds, together 
with the equipments, fixtures and furniture 
of the buildings now leased to the state by 
the county of Kings for the care of the in- 
sane, when said lease expires, shall be under 
the Jurisdiction of the commissioner of public 
charities. 

Payments to private Institutions. 

Sec. 661. No payments shall be made by the 
city of New York to any charitable, eleemosy- 
nary or reformatory Institution wholly or 
partly under private control, for the care, sup- 
port, secular education, or maintenance of 
any child surrendered to such Institution, or 
committed to, received or retained therein 
in accordance with sections six hundred and 
sixty-four, six hundred and sixty-five, six 
hundred and sixty-six and six hundred and 
sixty-seven of this act, except upon the cer- 
tificate of the commissioner of public chari- 
ties that such child has been received and is 
retained by such institution pursuant to the 
rules and regulations established by the state 
board of charities. Moneys paid by The City 
of New York to any such institution for the 
care, support, secular education or mainte- 
nance of its inmates shall not be expended 
for any other purpose. Whenever the com- 
missioner shall decide, after reasonable notice 
to the institution and a hearing, that any 
such child as aforesaid who Is received and 
retained in such institution is not a proper 
charge against the public, and notice of such 
decision in writing is given by him to such 
Institution, thereupon all right on the part of 
said institution to receive compensation from 
the city for the further retention of the child 
shall cease. He shall file in the office of the 
department a statement of the reasons for his 
decision and of the facts upon which it Is 
founded, and shall furnish a copy to the in- 
stitution where the child is detained. His 
decision may be reviewed on certiorari by the 
supreme court. 

Powers of the commissioner as to des- 
titute and other persons. 

Sec. 662. The commissioner of public chari- 
ties shall have all the authority concerning 
the care, custody and disposition of insane, 
feeble-minded, sick, infirm and destitute per- 
sons heretofore conferred upon the board of 
public charities and upon the several com- 
missioners of public charities and he shall be 
subject to the same obligations and discharge 
the same duties in respect to such persons, 
except in so far as the same are inconsistent 
with or are modified by this act and the 
amendments thereof. The commissioner shall 
be the overseer of the poor of The City of 
New York, as constituted by this act. The 
commissioner shall not have power to dis- 
pense any form of outdoor relief except as 
expressly provided in this chapter, but the 
commissioner shall have power to pay for the 
cost of the removal or transportation of any 
person who may come under his charge when- 


ever in his Judgment the city will thereby be 
relieved from an unnecessary or improper 
charge. The commissioner shall make pro- 
vision for the temporary care of vagrant and 
indigent persons, and shall provide for an in- 
vestigation into the circumstances of all such 
persons, and shall cause every person who is 
found upon investigation to be a vagrant, to 
be brought before a magistrate pursuant to 
law. The board of estimate and apportion- 
ment and the board of aldermen shall in each 
year appropriate such sum as in their Judg- 
ment may be nsgjessary to carry out the pro- 
visions of this section. 

Classification and instruction of in- 
mates. 

Sec. 663. It shall be the duty of tUs com- 
missioner of public charities to investigate 
the circumstances of every person admitted 
to an institution under his charge and of the 
near relatives of such person. Such investi- 
gation shall be made, when practicable, be- 
fore the admission of such person, and the 
results of investigation shall be placed on file 
and preserved with the records of the depart- 
ment. It shall be the duty of the commis- 
sioner to cause all the inmates of public In- 
stitutions under his charge to be classified 
so far as practicable. The inmates of the 
almshouse or almshouses shall be classified at 
the time of their admission upon the basis of 
previous character and conduct, but such in- 
mates maybe transferred or reclassified in ac- 
cordance with their conduct in the instifction. 
Every inmateof the almshouse whose age and 
health will permit shall be employed in cul- 
tivating the ground under the control of the 
commissioner, or in manufacturing such ar- 
ticles as may be required for ordinary use 
in the public institutions under the control 
of the commissioner, or for the use of any 
department of The City of New York, or in 
preparing and building sea walls upon isl- 
ands or other places belonging to the city, 
or such mechanical or other labor as shall 
be found from experience to suit the capacity 
of the individual. The articles raised or 
manufactured by such labor shall be subject 
to the order of, and shall be placed under the 
control of the commissioner, and all such 
articles shall be utilized so far as practica- 
ble in the public Institutions under the charge 
of the department of charities or in some 
other department of the city. All the land 
under the jurisdiction of the commissioner, 
not otherwise occupied or utilized, and which 
is capable of being cultivated, shall, in the 
discretion of said commissioner, be used for 
agricultural purposes. The commissioner, 
within the limits of his appropriation, may 
establish and maintain in the public insti- 
tutions under his charge such schools or 
classes for the instruction and training of 
inmates as may in his opinion be desirable. 

Powers of the commissioner as to des- 
titute and other children. 

Sec. 664. The commissioner of public char- 
ities Shall have power to commit, to inden- 
ture, place out, discharge, or tnansfer Jiny 
child who may b£ in his custody, or who 
may have been placed by him in an institu- 
tion as a public charge, whenever in his Judg- 
ment it shall be for the best Interests of such 
child so to do, and he and his successors in 
office shall have power to revoke and cancel 
any such indenture or agreement, and to 
make contracts for the maintenance of any 
such child; in placing out or indenturing 
such children the commissioner may assign 
one or more of his subordinates to make the 
necessary investigations and he may em- 
ploy any duly incorporated iharitahle insti- 
tution or society and may reimburse such 


institution or society for any expenses, other 
than salaries, actually incurred in the plac- 
ing out, supervision and transfer if necessary, 
of children who are public charges. The word 
institution, whenever used in this chapter, 
shall include any charitable corporation, one 
of whose objects is the care of children er 
the placing of children in families. An insti- 
tution to which a child has been committed, 
as herein provided, shall have the authority 
to place such child in a family, or bind out 
such child by indenture, or consent to hl» 
adoption. In indenturing, placing out, trans- 
ferring or committing any such child the 
commissioner or any institution or society 
employed by him shall, when practicable. In- 
denture or place out such child with an In- 
dividual of the like religious faith as the 
parents of such child, or transfer or com- 
mit such child to an Institution governed by 
persons of the same religious faith as that 
of the parents of such child. In respect to 
such minors so committed to or otherwise 
placed under his charge the commissioner 
shall have such additional powers as were 
on the first day of January, eighteen hundred 
and ninety-eight vested by law in the cor- 
responding officers of the corporation known 
as the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of 
the city of New York, of the corporation 
known as the city of Brooklyn, and of the 
counties of Kings, Richmond and Queens 
mentioned in section six hundred and sixty- 
two of this act. The commissioner shall not 
commit children to any institution which 
shall have been certified by the state board 
of charities to have failed to comply with 
the rules and regulations established by that 
board pursuant to section fourteen of article 
eight of the constitution, nor shall he com- 
mit any child to any Institution not 
situated in The City of New York unless 
such institution shall have been certified 
by said board to be properly protected from 
fire and other dangers. 

Notice of commitment of children- 

Sec. 665. Whenever any child, actually or 
apparently, under the age of sixteen years. 
Is brought before any court or .magistrate in 
The City of New York, as constituted by this 
act, pursuant to section eight hundred and 
eighty-eight of the code of criminal proced- 
ure, or is found destitute of means of sup- 
port the magistrate presiding, or court be- 
fore whom or which such child Is brought 
shall thereupon fix a day not more than five 
days distant for the hearing and final dispo- 
sition of the charge against said child, and 
shall, at the Baine time, in addition to 2 t!ch 
other notices as may be required by law, 
give notice, in writing, of such arrest to the 
commissioner of public charities and to the 
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Children duly authorized to carry on Its 
work In the county In which said 
arrest Is made, which notice Bhall 
state the name of the child. Its age, 
either actual or apparent. Its sex, color, birth- 
place, residence, father's name, mother’s 
name, parents’ religion and parents’ occupa- 
tion, each if known; the specific charge upon 
which the arrest is made; the name of the 
officer making the arrest, and the name and 
address of the complaining witness, if any 
there be. And such court or magistrate may 
temporarily commit such child to the custody 
and care of an institution ^o which said court 
or magistrate is authorized by law to make 
final commitment. 

Children committed as public charges) 
Investigation. 

Sec. 666. The commissioner may appear 
either by clerk or by counsel oa all heay- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


? a 


ings or proceedings for the commitment of 
children. He shall investigate the circum- 
stances of their relatives, whose duty it is 
to relieve and maintain them, and shall on 
or before the final hearing therein, file with 
the court or magistrate a statement In 
writing of such fact or facts as in the opin- 
ion of the commissioner render it proper 
or improper that such child should be sup- 
ported as a public charge at the expense of 
the city; and such written statement of fact 
or facts when so filed shall be preserved 
with and form a part of the record of the 
proceedings instituted by the arrest of such 
child. Omission or failure to file such state- 
ment shall not be ground for delaying the 
final decision. 

Term of commitment of children; dis- 
charge. 

Sec. 667. The terra of commitment of each 
child committed in The City of New York, 
as constituted by this act, under any of the 
provisions of section six hundred and sixty- 
four, six hundred and sixty-five, and six 
hundred and sixty six of this act shall be 
until such child shall attain the age of six- 
teen years or until it shall be duly indent- 
ured or placed out as an apprentice by the 
institution to which it shall have been com- 
mitted, or until it shall be given over in 
adoption by said institution to some suitable 
person, or until returned to its parents, 
relatives, or guardians, or otherwise dis- 
charged. Each institution mentioned in sec- 
tion six hundred and sixty-one of this act, 
shall file with the commissioner, at the end 
of three months a list of all the children 
referred to in sections six hundred and 
sixty-one, six hundred and sixty-four, six 
hundred and sixty-five and six hundred and 
sixty-six of this act, received by or dis- 
charged from said institution during the 
month, which list shall contain the names 
and residences of the parents and guardi- 
ans of the children as far as known. Every 
such institution shall keep a book In which 
it shall cause to be entered the name and 
address of each parent, relative or other 
person visiting an inmate of such institu- 
tion who is in whole or In part a charge 
upon The City of New York, and such name 
and address shall be 'entered upon the occa- 
sion of each visit by any such person. 

Saving clause as to certain existing 

laws. 

Sec. 668. Nothing contained in the fore- 
going sections shall be construed to alter 
or affect any provision of chapter one hun- 
dred and seventy-two of the laws of eighteen 
hundred and sixty-five, or of chapter four 
hundred , and thirty-nine of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and ninety-two, or of chap- 
ter three hundred and fifty-three of the 
laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-six. 

Record of inmates of institutions. 

Sec. 669. It shall be the duty of the com- 
missioner of public charities to keep and 
preserve a proper record of all persons who 
shall come under his care or custody and 
of the disposition made of such persons, 
with full particulars as to the name, age, 
sex, color and nativity of each, and In case 
of minors the names and residence of pa- 
rents and their religious faith so far as as- 
certained. and the religious faith, and resi- 
dence of the persons or families with whom 
or of the persons in charge of the institu- 
tion In which they are placed, together with 
copies of any instrument of indenture or 
agreement executed bv such commission -r. 
And ti si.r’l r .‘.3 r ( •’ . v ... 1! - l » • 


sioner to keep and preserve such records of 
all persons who are inmates of private in- 
stitutions who are accepted by him as 
proper charges upon the city. 

Temporary* care in accident case*. 

Sec. 670. Any person injured or taken sick 
on the streets or In any public place within 
said city, who may not be safely removed 
to his or her home, may be sent to and shall 
be received in any public hospital within 
said city, for temporary care and treatment, 
irrespective of his or her place of residence. 

Temporary care of the Insane. 

Sec. 671. The commissioner shall provide 
and maintain as may be necessary suitable 
rooms or wards for the reception, medical 
examination and temporary care of persons 
alleged to be Insane for the boroughs other 
than Manhattan and The Bronx. 

Alteration and repair of buildings. 

Sec. 672. The commissioner whenever the 
Increase of inmates In or the proper care 
and government of the public institutions 
or establishments under his Jurisdiction 
shall in his Judgment render It necessary or 
expedient, shall have power provided an ap- 
propriation has been made therefor to en- 
large or alter the buildings occupied by such 
Institutions or establishments or any of 
them, and to make all needful repairs to 
buildings and property under his control. 

Potter’s field; power to establish cre- 
matories. 

Sec. 673. The commissioner shall have 
charge of the Potter’s Fields, and shall, 
when the necessity therefor shall arise, 
have power to lay out additional Potter’s 
Fields cr other public burial place for the 
poor and strangers, and from time to time 
to enclose and extend the same, to make en- 
closures therein and to build vaults therein, 
and to provide all necessary labor therefor 
and for Interments therein. Provided, how- 
ever, that the Potter’s Field on Hart’s Island 
shall remain under the control of the depart- 
ment of correction, and the burial of deceased 
paupers therein shall continue under rules 
and regulations as provided in section six 
hundred and ninety-five of this act. The com- 
missioner of public charities and the commis- 
sioner of correction are respectively empow- 
ered to cause to be cremated the bodies of 
deceased paupers and criminals where rela- 
tives do not object to such cremation; and 
the board of estimate and apportionment, 
with the approval of the board of aldermen, 
may cause to be erected and equipped proper 
facilities for such cremation. 

Accounts; annual estimates) expendi- 
tures. 

Sec. 674. The commissioner shall keep ac- 
curate and detailed accounts. In a form ap- 
proved by the comptroller, of all moneys re- 
ceived and expended by him, the sources from 
which they are received and the purposes for 
which they are expended. The commissioner 
shall, on or before the first day of Septem- 
ber In each year, prepare an Itemized esti- 
mate of his necessary expenses for the ensu- 
ing fiscal year, which shall be submitted to 
the board of estimate and apportionment 
within the time prescribed by this act for the 
submission of estimates for the several de- 
partments of the city. The commissioner 
shall Incur no expense for any purpose in 
excess of the amount appropriated therefor; 
nor shall he expend any money so appropri- 
ated for any purpose other than that for 
which it was appropriated. 

Advertisements for supplies. 

Sec. 676. The commissioner of pub’lc c^ari- 

L. rjin u:i.e to fl :. X’ ■ i-‘ 


necesSary, advertise in the City Record and 
the corporation newspapers for not less than 
ten days for proposals for such articles and 
supplies as shall be necessary to be used in 
and for the relief and support of the poor 
of the city, and which cannot be supplied 
by hts department or by the department of 
correction, and shall award contracts for the 
same to the lowest bidders, who shall give 
adequate security for the faithful performance 
or such contracts. In case of an emergency 
or In the purchase of perishable articles the 
commissioner may purchase without calling 
for competition at a total expense not ex- 
ceeding three thousand dollars during 
any one month. The commissioner shall 
in the case of each such purchase enter 
In a book to be kept for that purpose, a 
detailed statement of the facts which render 
purchase by contract impracticable. 

Expenditures for tUe relief of the 

blind. 

Sec. 676. The commissioner is hereby au- 
thorized and empowered to Insert in his 
annual estimate of expenditures an item of 
expenditure for the relief of the poor adult 
blind not to exceed In all seventy-five thou- 
sand dollars. The commissioner shall dis- 
tribute the sum so appropriated each year 
in uniform sums not to exceed one hundred 
dollars to any one person, to such poor 
adult blind persons, not Inmates of any of 
the public or private institutions In The 
City of New York, who shall be In need of 
relief and who shall be citizens of the United 
States, ahd shall have been residents of said 
city continuously for two years previous to 
the date of application for such relief. 

Detail of Inmates of correctional In- 
stitutions to work in department. 

Sec. 677. The commissioner may, from time 
to time, in his discretion, request the de- 
partment of correction to detail and desig- 
nate inmates of the correctional institutions 
of the city to perform necessary work, labor 
and services in and upon the grounds and 
buildings which are under the charge of the 
said commissioner, and such Inmates of such 
correctional Institutions when so employed 
shall at all times be under the personal 
oversight and direction of a keeper or keep- 
ers from such correctional Institutions as 
the department of correction may deem nec- 
essary; but no Inmate of any correctional 
institution shall be employed In any capac- 
ity whatever in any ward of any hospital 
under the jurisdiction of the department of 
public charities while such ward Is being 
used for hospital purposes. The provisions pf 
this section shall not be construed to limit 
the power of said commissioner to make 
requisition upon the commissioner of cor- 
rection as provided by section seven hundred 
and one of this act. 

Care of non-residents In olty hospitals. 

Sec. 678. The commissioner of public chari- 
ties is hereby authorized In his discretion 
to permit the reception and treatment In 
hospitals under his jurisdiction of persons 
who do not reside in The City of New 
York, provided that every person so re- 
ceiving treatment shall be required to 
pay such sum for board and attendance 
as may be fixed by such commissioner, 
and provided that no such persons shall 
be received to the exclusion of patients who 
reside In said city. Such commissioner shall 
collect and pay over all such moneys to the 
chamberlain once every month, and the 
amount so collected shall be paid Into the 
general fund. The commissioner shall upon 
making such payments to the chamberlain 
report t v e s?r»e to the ccrrpfroller of The 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


71 


Requisitions of subordinate officers. 

Sec. 679. Each superintendent, warden or 
chief officer of every . institution under the 
charge of the commissioner shall make his 
requisition in writing on the commissioner 
for all articles deemed necessary by the said 
officer to be used in the respective institu- 
tions under his charge, and shall keep an 
accurate account of the same. 

Report* of subordinate officers. 

Sec. 680. Each such superintendent, warden 
or other chief officer of every institution 
under the charge of the commissioner shall 
once in each week report in writing to the 
commissioner the number of persons who 
have been received or transferred, who a-re 
sick, who have died, and who are remaining 
in the respective institutions under his 
charge, the discipline which has been main- 
tained therein, the punishments imposed, 
and the quantity and kind of labor performed, 
and such other information as the commis- 
sioner may require. 

Hours of labor; discipline. 

Sec. 682. The hours of labor required of 
any pauper or other person committed to or 
placed under the charge of the commissioner 
of public charities shall be fixed by the com- 
missioner. In case any such pauper shall 
neglect or refuse to perform the work al- 
lotted to him or her by the person in charge, 
or shall violate the rules and regulations of 
the Institution, it shall be the duty of the 
superintendent of the almshouse to report 
such insubordination or violation to the 
commissioner, who may thereupon direct 
the punishment of such pauper by solitary 
confinement and by being fed on bread and 
water only for such length of time as he may 
consider necessary. In case any pauper shall 
neglect to perform the work assigned to him 
or her, or be guilty of any such violation on 
three or more separate occasions, the said 
commissioner may cause such pauper to be 
brought before the proper court or magis- 
trate, and such court or magistrate may 
commit such pauper to the workhouse or 
penitentiary as a disorderly person. 

Support of poor persons by relatives. 

See. 683. The grandparents, parents, chil- 
dren and grandchildren of sufficient ability, 
of a poor person w-ho is insane, blind, old, 
lame, impotent or decrepit so as to be 
unable by work to maintain himself, and 
the grandparents and parents of a desti- 
tute child, must at their own charge relieve 
and maintain him in a manner to be ap- 
proved by the commissioner. If the relative 
of a poor person fails to maintain and re- 
lieve him as in this section provided, the 
said commissioner may apply to any city 
magistrate for the order authorized by law 
in such cases. The action authorized by law 
for a failure to comply with the order of 
the court requiring the payment of a week- 
ly sum for such support must be in the 
name of the commissioner of public chari- 
ties. 

Conduct of bastardy proceeding*. 

Sec. 684. All bastardy proceedings shall 
be conducted by and in the name of the 
commissioner, and the amount collected 
shall be paid to the commissioner, to be 
by him applied to the support of the child 
or of the child and its mother, and shall be 
accounted for by him in a manner approved 
by the comptroller. The commissioner shall 
have authority to compromise bastardy and 
abandonment eases. 

Maintenance of abandoned wives and 
children. 

Sec. 685. Every person in The City of New 
Ycui., us tii. ... tici, who ac- 


tually abandons his wife or children without 
adequate support, or leaves them in danger 
of becoming a burden upon the public, or 
who neglects to provide for them according 
to his means, or who threatens to run away 
and leave his wife and children a burden 
upon the public, may be arrested upon a com- 
plaint made under oath to a city magis- 
trate and a warrant thereon issued, and 
brought before such magistrate, as provided 
by section nine hundred of the code of 
criminal procedure. And if thereupon it shall 
appear by the confession of the defendant 
or by competent testimony that he is guilty 
of the Charge, the said magistrate shall make 
an order specifying a reasonable sum of 
money to be paid weekly for the space of one 
year thereafter by such defendant to the 
commissioner of public charities for the 
support of the wife or children. But noth- 
ing in this chapter contained shall apply to 
or affect an order for the payment of money 
for the support of a child in an institution, 
pursuant to the provisions of section two 
hundred and eighty-eight of the penal code 
or of section nine hundred and twenty-one 
of the code of criminal procedure. 

Commitments In abandonment pro- 
ceeding;; surety. 

Sec. 686. Any person convicted of any of 
the offenses hereinbefore recited shall, upon 
being served with such order, enter into a 
bond to the people of the state in such sum 
as such city magistrate shall direct, with 
good and sufficient surety to be approved 
by the said city magistrate, that such per- 
son will pay weekly for the space of one 
year such sum for the support of the wife 
or children or either or any of them, as has 
been ordered as aforesaid, to the commis- 
sioner of public charities. In default of such 
surety being found, the city magistrate 
shall make up, sign and file in the office 
of the clerk of the county in which such 
conviction is had, a record of the convic- 
tion of such offender as a disorderly per- 
son, specifying generally the nature and 
circumstances of the offense and the names 
of the witnesses by whom it has been estab- 
lished, and shall by warfant commit such 
offender to the workhouse on Blackwell's 
Island, or to the penitentiary or jail in the 
borough where the conviction is had, there 
to remain until such surety be found or 
such offender he discharged according to 
law, or he shall sentence such offender to 
imprisonment in the penitentiary, for a term 
not exceeding six months or until such of- 
fender gives the security as hereinbefore 
provided or is discharged according to law. 
Upon the trial or hearing of all complaints 
for any or either of the offenses hereinbe- 
fore referred to, the wife shall be a com- 
petent witness therein against her husband, 
as to all matters embraced in said com- 
plaint. 

Action* v on bond* In abandonment 
proceeding. 

Sec. 6^7. Any suit, action or proceeding 
brought or instituted Upon any bond or 
recognizance given in pursuance of the 
preceding section shall be brought and pros- 
ecuted by ^id in the name of the commis- 
sioner Of public charities, and all 
moneys recovered in any suit, action or 
proceeding shall be paid to the commis- 
sioner to be by him applied and expended 
for the support of the wife and cbildreu, or 
either or any of them, of the person against 
whom the order mentioned and provided for 
in section six hundred and eighty-five of 
this act shall have been made. If the 
person charged with the offenses hereln- 
i..:f,ic- recite*! cr olthrr of there Is aclmiUr 1 


to bail, the undertaking of his bail shall be 
for the future appearance of the defendant 
according to the terms of the undertaking, 
or that the ball will pay to the commis- 
sioner a specified sum in the event of such 
failure to appear, or if such person deposits 
a sum of money as directed by law instead 
of giving an undertaking of bail for his fu- 
ture appearance, and if such person shall 
thereafter fail to appear in accordance with 
the terms of said undertaking or the terms 
upon which the money was deposited, then 
the said magistrate shall enter the fact of 
said person's non-appearance upon the min- 
utes and the undertaking of his bail or 
money deposited Instead of bail shall there- 
upon be forfeited. 

Recoveries In abandonment proceed- 
ings. 

Sec. 688. When such an undertaking is 
forfeited, an action may be brought in the 
name of the commissioner of public char- 
ities to recover the amount specified in such 
undertaking, and the amount recovered in 
said action shall be applied and expended 
for the support of the 'wife and children, or 
either or any of them, of the person charged 
with the offenses hereinbefore recited or 
either or any of such offenses, and when any 
money has been deposited Instead of bail and 
which shall have been forfeited as hereinbe- 
fore provided, said money ehall be paid to 
the commissioner, by the person with whom 
the said sum of money is deposited, upon pre- 
senting to him a certificate from the city 
magistrate certifying to the forfeiture there- 
of. which said certificate shall state the name 
of the person making the deposit, when it ie 
made, the name of the defendant, and that 
the said sum of money was forfeited on ac- 
count of the defendant’s failure to appear as 
directed, and shall be signed by said magis- 
trate. 

Appeal* In abandonment proceedings; 

cost*. 

Sec. 689. An appeal to the court of gener- 
al sessions may be taken from fhe conviction 
before a city magistrate under this chapter 
within the county of New York, or to the 
county court in any other county within The 
City of New York, which said appeal shall be 
conducted under and in accordance with the 
provisions of the code of criminal procedure 
of the state of New York, except that the 
judge allowing the appeal must take from the 
defendant a written undertaking In sucii 
sum and with such sureties as he may ap- 
prove, that defendant will abide the Judgment 
of the appellate court upon the appeal and 
will pay all costs which may be awarded 
against him, and except that all notices 
required by said code of criminal 
procedure tc be served upon the 
district attorney upon such appeal 
shall be served upon the commissioner 
of public charities, and the commissioner may 
appear by clerk or counsel upon the hearing 
of such appeal. The court must award costs 
to the party in whose favor the appeal is 
determined, as follows, beside disbursements; 
To the appellant upon reversal, thirty dollars; 
to the respondent upon affirmance, twenty- 
five dollars. When awarded to the appellant 
they must be paid by the comptroller of The 
Citj of New York on the delivery to him 
of a certified copy of the order of reversal, 
and must be charged to the contingent ac- 
count of the commissioner of public charities. 
When awarded to the respondent the payment 
of costs may be enforced as in a civil action, 
and in an action brought therefor against the 
sureties upon the undertaking given on the 
allowance of the appeal, the production of 
r.-pjrHVfl ec; j? o' Uv' n-Cr of jfn.mn'mn 


72 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


shall be conclusive evidence. If a new trial 
Is ordered It must be had in the court where 
the appeal was heard, before a Judge without 
a jury. 

An appeal to the court of general sessions 
may be taken in an abandonment proceeding, 
by the commissioner of public charities in 
whose name the proceeding is brought, 
from a decision or judgment of a 
city magistrate under this chapter, 
within the county of New York; or to th« 
county court in any other county which is 
wholly or partly within The City of New 
York, as constituted by this act. 

For the purpose of appealing the commis- 
sioner must within sixty days after such de- 
cision or Judgment make an affidavit show- 
ing the alleged errors in the proceeding in 
which the decision or Judgment was ren- 
dered, and must within that time present it 
to the county judge of the county where the 
proceeding was brought or to a justice of the 
supreme court in that department, or in the 
county cf New York to the recorder or a 
judge authorized to hold a court of general 
sessions, and apply thereon for an allowance 
of the appeal. 

If, in the opinion of the Justice, judge or 
recorder to whom the affidavit is submitted, 
it is proper that the questions set forth in 
the affidavit should be decided by the ap- 
pellate court, he must indorse upon the af- 
fidavit an allowance of an appeal to that 
court. And the commissioner must within 
five day* thereafter serve a copy of such affi- 
davit upon which the appeal was granted, 
together with a notice that the same has been 
allowed, upon the defendant in the abandon- 
ment proceeding or upon the attorney or 
counsel who last appeared for the defendant 
therein. 

Sections seven ITUndred and fifty-five, seven 
hundred and fifty-six, seven hundred and fif- 
ty-seven and seven hundred and fifty-eight 
of the code of criminal procedure shall apply 
to the appeal herein provided. 

The appeal may be brought to argument by 
the commissioner or the defendant upon ten 
day*’ notice to the opposite party, to be served 
personally on the commissioner or, either 
personally upon the defendant or personally i 
upon the attorney who last appeared for the 
defendant. 

The appeal shall be heard and disposed of 
In the manner provided by sections seven 
hundred and sixty-three, seven hundred and 
sixty-four, seven hundred and sixty-five, sev- 
en hundred and sixty-six and seven hundred 
and sixty-nine of the Code of criminal pro- 
cedure, except that if a new trial be ordered, 
It shall be had In the court where the appeal 
was heard, before a Judge without a Jury, 
and, pending such new trial, the Judge shall 
issue a warrant for the arrest of the defend- 
ant, and may hold him to bail upon an in- 
dictment. 

Upon an appeal taken by the commissioner 
of public charities no costs shall be awarded 
to either party. 

When new security be required after 

conviction la abandonment proceed- 
ings. 

Sec. 690. Upon the recovery of a bond given 
by the defendant upon sonvlctlon- In aban- 
donment proceedings as prescribed in section 
six hundred and eighty-six, or upon proof by 
affidavit by the commissioner that h© has 
caused diligent efforts to be made to serve 
personally upon a surety on such a bond, a 
summons in an action brought thereon for a 
default in the terms thereof, but has been un- 
able to effect service upon such surety; or 
that a surety has been adjudged a bankrupt, 
the city magistrate then sitting in the court 
la which such bond was given may issue a 


warrant for the arrest of the defendant, in 
whose behalf the bond was given, and require 
him to give new security or in default there- 
of may commit him, under the original order 
and conviction, in the manner prescribed in 
section six hundred and eighty-six; provided, 
however, that the total imprisonment upon 
such order shall not exceed six months in any 
year. 

Support of bastard children. 

Sec. 691. If any time after an order of fili- 
ation in bastardy proceedings shall have been 
made, and an undertaking given thereon. In 
accordance with the provisions of this act and 
of the code of criminal procedure such un- 
dertaking shall not be complied with, or that 
for any reason a recovery thereon cannot be 
had, the overseers of the poor of any coun- 
ty, city or town commissioner of public 
charities where the bastard, for whose sup- 
port the order of filiation was made, shall be 
at the time, may upon proof of the making 
of the order of filiation, the giving of the 
above mentioned undertaking and non-com- 
pliance therewith, or that for any reason a 
recovery cannot be had on such undertaking 
apply to the court, in such county, city, or 
town, having jurisdiction in bastardy pro- 
ceedings, for a warrant for the arrest of the 
defendant against whom such order of fili- 
ation was made, which shall be executed in 
the manner provided in the code of criminal 
procedure for the execution of a warrant. 
Upon the arrest and arraignment of the de- 
fendant, the said court upon proof of the 
making of the order of filiation, the giving of 
the above mentioned undertaking, the non- 
compliance therewith or that for any reason 
a recovery cannot be had on such undertaking 
shall make an order requiring him to give a 
new undertaking in the manner provided in 
subdivision one of section eight hundred and 
fifty-one of the code of criminal procedure for 
giving an undertaking on conviction, or upon 
his failure to so give a new undertaking, shall 
commit him in the manner provided in sec- 
tion eight hundred and fiity-two of 6aid code 
of criminal procedure. 

TITLE 2. 

BELLEVUE AND ALLIED HOSPITALS IN 
THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 

Board of tru*teea, jurisdiction, powers 

and duties. 

Sec. 692. 1. On the first day of February, 
nineteen hundred and two, the Jurisdiction of 
the department of public charities of The 
City of New York over Bellevue Hospital and 
the Fordham, Harlem and Gouverneur Hos- 
pitals and the Emergency Hospital in East 
Twenty-sixth street in The City of New 
York, shall cease, and the care, man- 
agement and control of such hospitals 
shall be vested in a board of trustees, which 
shall on said date succeed to all rights, duties 
and powers heretofore vested in said depart- 
ment of public charities so far as concerns 
said hospitals. Said board of trustees shall 
consist of seven residents of The City of 
New York, together with the commissioner of 
public charities, cx officio. It shaU^e known 
as the "Board of Trustees of Bellewie and Al- 
lied Hospitals." In the month of January, 
nineteen hundred and two, the mayor of The 
City of New York shall appoint one resident 
of The City of New York to serve as such 
trustee for the term of one year, one for the 
term of two years, one for the term of 
three years, one for the term of four 
years, one for the term of five years, one 
for the term of six years and one for the 
term of seven years, from the first day of 
February, nineteen hundred and two. In the 


month of January, and on or before the twen- 
tieth day thereof, prior to Ihe expiration of 
the term of office of any trustee, the mayor 
shall appoint his successor for the full term 
of seven years. The mayor shall fill any 
vacancy in the board caused by the death of 
a trustee, his resignation, removal from the 
city or otherwise, by the appointment of a 
trustee to hold office for the unexpired term. 
Every person appointed to serve as such 
trustee shall, before entering upon the duties 
of his office, take and subscribe the oath of 
office prescribed by the constitution of the 
state. 

2. For the purpose of making the appoint- 
ments aforesaid, the said mayor shall call 
upon the president or other executive head 
of each of the following organizations, to wit: 
The United Hebrew Charities of The City of 
New York, the Particular Council of New 
York of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul In 
New York, and the New York Association for 
Improving the Condition of the Poor, to pre- 
sent a list of not less than twice the number 
of persons to be appointed members of said 
board of trustees, to fill a vacancy or other- 
wise. Notice 1 b writing pf the dates on 
which appointments, including the first, to 
said board of trustees are proposed to be 
made shall be given by the mayor to each of 
said presidents or other executive heads at 
least ten days prior thereto, and such list of 
names shall be so presented within three 
days after the receipt of such notice. Said 
presidents or other executive heads may each 
submit, or two or more of them may Jointly 
present, such a list of names. Appointments 
to said board of trustees may Irr the discre- 
tion of the mayor be made from such list or 
Usts. 

3. No trustee shall be subject to removal 
under the provisions of section ninety-five (St 
this act, but any trustee may be removed by 
the mayor upon proof either of official mis- 
conduct or neglect of duty or of conduct 
which tends to discredit his office or for men- 
tal or physical inability to perform his duties, 
but before such removal he shall receive due 
and timely notice In writing of the charges 
and a copy thereof, and shall be entitled to 
a hearing on like notice before the mayor and 
to the assistance of counsel on said hearing. 
No trustee shall receive pecuniary compensa- 
tion for his services or be interested directly 
or Indirectly In the furnishing or performjng 
of work, labor, services, materials or supplies 
of any kind to or for said hospitals by con- 
tract or otherwise. No trustee shall hold 
any office of emolument under the city, coun- 
ty, state or national government, except th© 
offices of notary public, or commissioner of 
deeds, or offices in the national guard. 

4. The commissioners or the sinking fund 
of The City of New York shall within thirty 
days arter the passage of this act prepare 
a plan for the separation from th© depart- 
ment of public charities of the said Bellevue 
hospital, and the Fordham, Harlem, Gouver- 
neur and Emergency hospitals. Such plan 
shall apportion to each of said hospitals the 
lands, buildings, fixtures, furniture and other 
appurtenances and property, and the books, 
records, vouchers and o.ther papers hitherto 
used in connection with or for th© purposes 
of said hospitals, and provide in detail for 
the transfer thereof to said board of trustees 
of Bellevue and allied hospitals on the first 
day of February, nineteen hundred and two. 
It shall further apportion to each of said 
hospitals, the employes and subordinates of 
every grade In the service of the department 
of public charities who shall be in service In 
and about the said hospitals exclusively on 
said date. To enable said commissioners to 
prepare such plan, they shall have access to 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


73 


all of the books and papers which are the 
property of The City of New York in the cus- 
tody of said department of public charities, 
and to visit said hospitals, and to require at 
any and all times the attendance before them 
of the commissioner of public charities and 
of any of his employes and subordinates. 

5. Said board of trustees shall organize 
within ten days after said trustees are ap- 
pointed. It shall annually choose from its 
members, at a regular meeting to be held 
in the month of February, a president and a 
secretary for the term of one year. It shall 
establish rules and regulations for the ad- 
ministration and government of said hos- 
pitals. It shall administer the moneys ap- 
propriated for said hospitals, subject to the 
general provisions of this act relative to the 
audit and payment of claims. Said board 
shall have power to appoint and at pleasure 
to remove such superintendents, medical of- 
ficers, subordinate officers and other em- 
ployes as may be necessary for the efficient 
management and conduct of said hospitals, 
subject to the civil service laws and the rules 
and regulations of the municipal civil service 
commission. The board of trustees shall 
keep accurate and detailed accounts, in a 
form approved by the comptroller, of all 
moneys received and expended by it, the 
sources from which they are received and the 
purposes for which they are expended. It 
shall during the month of January in each 
year transmit to the mayor a report as to the 
condition of the hospitals under its care and 
the management thereof during the year end- 
ing the preceding thirty-first day of Decem- 
ber. 

6. The medical board of Bellevue hospital, 
and allied hospitals, shall be composed of the 
attending and consulting physicians and sur- 
geons of said hospitals on the first day of 
February, nineteen hundred and two. They 
and such successors as the board of trustees 
may appoint shall serve without pecuniary 
compensation, and shall hold office so long 
as they shall perform their duties in a man- 
ner satisfactory to the said board of trustees. 
Vacancies occurring in said medical board 
shall be filled by the said board of trustees 
by appointment from the medical profession 
in The City of New York. The said board 
of trustees shall, on nomination of the said 
medical board, appoint medical and surgical 
house officers to the said hospitals, all of 
whom shall serve without pecuniary compen- 
sation. 

7. Any person injured or taken sick in the 
streets or in any public square or place with- 
in The City of New York, who may not 
be safel} removed to his or her home, may 
be sent to and shall be received b" the said 
hospitals for temporary care and treatment, 
irrespective of his or her place of residence. 
The said board of trustees shall provide and 
maintain suitable rooms or wards for the 
reception, medical examination and temporary 
care of persons alleged to be insane. 

8. The said board of trustees may permit 
the reception and treatment in said hos- 
pitals of persons who do not reside in The 
City of New York, provided that every per- 
son so receiving treatment shall be required 
to pay such sum for board and attendance 
as may be fixed by said board of trustees, 
and provided that no such person shall be 
received to the exclusion of patients who 
reside in said city. The said board of trus- 
tees shall collect and pay over all such 
moneys to the chamberlain once every month, 
and the amount so collected shall be paid 
into the general fund. The said board of 
trustees shall, upon making such payments 
to the chamberlain, report the same to the 
comptroller of The City of New York. 


9. The board of estimate and apportionment 
and the board of aldermen shall in each year 
appropriate such sum as in their Judgment 
may be necessary for the support and main- 
tenance of said hospitals. It shall be the 
duty of the board of trustees thereof to send 
to the board of estimate and apportionment, 
on or before the first day of September in 
each year, an estimate in writing of the sum 
needed for the ensuing year in the same 
manner and general form as the heads of 
departments and other boards of The City 
of New York are required to furnish. 

10. Whenever any 6lck person in Bellevue 
or other hospitals hereinbefore mentioned 
shall, in the judgment of the board of trus- 
tees, cease to be a proper case for treatment 
therein, said board may cause such person 
to be transferred to the care, custody and 
control of the commissioner of public chari- 
ties, who shall forthwith receive and care 
for such person. In case any sick person 
under treatment in any of said hospitals shall 
die while under the care of the board of 
trustees, the latter, by their properly desig- 
nated officer or employe, may call upon the 
commissioner of public charities forthwith 
to receive and remove the body of such per- 
son, and it shall thereupon be the duty of 
such commissioner forthwith to receive and 
remove the same for burial or other proper 
disposition. The cost and expense of such 
reception, removal, burial or other proper 
disposition shall be borne and paid by the de- 
partment of public charities. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

DEPARTMENT OP CORRECTION. 
Jurisdiction : salary; regulations; sub- 
ordinate officers. 

Sec. 694. The head of the department of 
correction shall be called the commissioner 
of correction. He shall be appointed by the 
mayor and shall hold office, as provided in 
chapter four of this act. His salary shall be 
seven thousand five hundred dollars a 
year. The commissioner shall have power 
to establish rules and regulations for the 
administration of the department and the 
government of the institutions under his 
control. He shall have full and exclusive 
Jurisdiction over the several institutions 
hereinafter specified which are situated or 
may hereafter be established within The 
City of New York as constituted by this act. 
He shall have his principal office in the bor- 
ough of Manhattan. He shall have power 
to appoint and at will to remove a deputy 
and to define his duties. The salary of such 
deputy shall be four thousand dollars a year. 
He shall also have power within the limits 
of his appropriation to appoint and to re- 
move, subject to the requirements of the 
civil service laws, such superintendents, 
wardens and other subordinate officers and 
assistants as may be necessary for the ef- 
ficient performance of the duties of the de- 
partment. The deputy so appointed shall 
during the absence or inability of the com- 
missioner possess all the powers and per- 
form all the duties of such commissioner ex- 
cept the power of making appoint- 
ments. The commissioner may dele- 
gate to the superintendent or warden 
in charge of any institution in the 
department the power to appoint and re- 
move subordinate officers or assistants in 
such institutions. 

Institution* under the Jurisdiction of 
the commissioner. 

Sec. 695. The commissioner shall have jur- 
isdiction over and it shall be his duty to 
take charge of and manage all Institutions 


for the care and custody of criminals and mis- 
demeanants which belong to or shall be here- 
after acquired by The City of New York except 
the house of refuge, the house of detention of 
witnesses, the Brooklyn disciplinary training 
school for boys, incorporated societies for the 
prevention of cruelty to children and such 
places for the detention of prisoners or per- 
sons charged with crime as are by law placed 
under the charge of some other department, 
board or officer. The commissioner shall also 
have charge of such other institutions be- 
longing to the city as have been or may be 
hereafter placed under his Jurisdiction by the 
board of aldermen. Whenever the state au- 
thorities shall have caused the inmates of 
the lunatic asylum on Hart’s island to be 
removed elsewhere and shall have vacated the 
buildings now on said island occupied by said 
asylum, the said buildings, with the grounds 
thereto appertaining, shall become and be 
under the charge and control of the depart- 
ment of correction; provided, however, that 
the burial of deceased paupers shall be con- 
tinued on said island under regulations estab- 
lished by the Joint action of the departments 
of public charities and of correction, or in 
case of disagreement between said depart- 
ments, under such regulations as may be es- 
tablished by the mayor of the city. 

Transfer of Inmates to Rikew’g Island 
and Hart’s Island. 

Sec. 696. The commissioner, whenever, in 
his Judgment, it is expedient and practicable 
to do so, may cause to be removed to Rikcr’s 
island, and in case Hart’s island shall have 
been placed under the charge and control of 
the department of correction, as in section 
six hundred and ninety-five of this act pro- 
vided, then also to Hart’s island, the inmates 
of the workhouse and of the penitentiary on 
Blackwell's island; and he may direct such 
removals to be made, from time to time, as 
accommodation for the said inmates may Le 
provided upon Riker’s island and Hart’s Isl- 
and or elsewhere within The City of New 
York. And whenever in consequence of such 
removals or otherwise any of the buildings 
theretofore occupied or used for said work- 
house or penitentiary shall have become va- 
cant, such building or buildings, witfi the 
grounds thereto appertaining, shall be trans- 
ferred to the department of public charities. 
And whenever any of the said buildings or 
grounds shall have been so transferred, the 
commissioner of correction shall have no fur- 
ther rights, duties or obligations in respect 
to such building or buildings or grounds, but 
it or they shall thereafter be included in and 
appertain to the department of public chari- 
ties of The City of New York, and shall be 
under the jurisdiction of the commissioner of 
charities. 

Powers of commissioner over crim- 
inals and misdemeanants. 

Sec. 697. The commissioner shaU have all 
the authority concerning the care, custody 
and disposition of criminals and misdemean- 
ants which the commlwsioner of correction of 
the corporation known as the mayor, aider- 
men and commonalty of the city of New 
York, or which the Board of charities and 
correction for the city of Brooklyn and coun- 
ty of Kings as formerly constituted had on 
the thirty-flrBt day December, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-seven, and he shall dis- 
charge the same dutl*^s and be suhlfet to tbe 
same obligations in TSspecl to sutfT'persons 
as the said commissioner and board respec- 
tively, except in so far as the same are in- 
consistent with or are modified by this act. 
The commissioner shall have no authority 
and be subject to no obligation in respect to 
any destitute person not charged with or con- 
victed o£ crime or misdemeanor. 


74 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Classification of criminals ami misde- 
meanants; instruction. 

See. SOS. It shall bo the duty of the com- 
missioner to cause all the criminals and 
misdemeanant® under his charge to be classi- 
fied as far as practicable, so that youthful 
and ie 3 £ hardened offenders shail not be ren- 
dered more depraved by the association with 
sr. evil exatnpic of older and more hardened 
offenders. The commissioner may establish 
and maintain such schools or classes for the 
Instruction and training of the Inmates of 
the Institutions under his charge, es may be 
authorized by the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment. And to this end the commis- 
sioner may set apart one of the peual insti- 
tutions for the custody of such youthful and 
less hardened offenders, aud said commission- 
er shall have the power, in Ills discretion, to 
transfer such offenders thereto from any 
other of the penal Institutions of the city. 

Records of inmates of Institutions. 

Sec. 699. It shall be the duty of the com- 
missioner to keep and preserve a proper rec- 
ord of all persons who shall come under his 
care or custody, and of the disposition of 
each such person, with full particulars as to 
the name, age, sex, color, nativity and re- 
ligious faith of each, together with a state- 
ment of the cause and length of detention 
of each such person. Such record shall be 
supplementary to and shall be kept separate 
from the records required to be kept by sec- 
tion seven hundred and nine of this act. 

Employment of inmates; articles man- 
ufactured; cultivation of lands. 

Sec. 700. Every Inmate of an Institution 
under the charge of the commissioner, whose 
age and health will permit, shall be em- 
ployed In quarrying or cutting stone, or In 
cultivating land under the control of the 
commissioner, or in manufacturing such ar- 
ticles as may be required for ordinary use in 
the institutions under the control of the com- 
missioner, or for the use of any department 
of The City of New York, or In preparing and 
building sea walls upon Islands or other 
places belonging to The City of New York 
upon which public Institutions now are or 
may hereafter be erected, or In public work* 
carried on by any department of, the city, or 
at such mechanical or other labor as shall 
be found from experience to be suited to the 
capacity of the individual. The articles raised 
or manufactured by such labor shall be sub- 
ject to the order of and shall be placed under 
the control of the commissioner, and shail 
be utilized in the institutions under his 
charge or in some other department of the 
city. All the lands under the Jurisdiction of 
the commissioner not otherwise occupied or 
utilized, and which are capable of cultiva- 
tion shall in the discretion of the commis- 
sioner be used for agricultural purposes. 

Detail of inmates to work in other de- 
partments. 

Sec. 701. At the request of any of the 
heads of the administrative departments of 
The City of New York (who are hereby em- 
powered to make such request) the commis- 
sioner of correction may detail and designate 
any inmate or inmates of auy of the insti- 
tutions in the department of correction 
to perform work, labor and services in 
and upon the grounds and buildlug or in 
and upon auy public work or improvement 
under the charge of such other department. 
And such inmates when so employed shall at 
all times be under the personal oversight and 
direction c ff a keeper or keepers from the 
department of correction, but no inmate of 
any correctional institution shail be em- 
ji! ' i- -■/••• •••!** 1 ,i» nil" ov;ep‘ 


hospitals in penal institutions, while such 
ward is being used for hospital purposes. 
The provisions of this act or of law requiring 
advertisement for bids or proposals, or the 
awarding of contracts, for work to be done 
or supplies to be furnished for any of said 
departments shall not be applicable to pub- 
lic work which may be done or to the sup- 
plies Which may be furnished under the pro- 
visions of the prison law. 

Honrs of labor; discipline. 

Sec. 702. The hours of labor required of any 
inmate of any institution under the charge 
of the commissioner shall he fixed by the 
commissioner. In case any person confined 
in any institution in the department shall 
neglect or refuse to perform the work al- 
lotted to him by the officer in charge of such 
institution, or shall wilfully violate the rules 
and regulations established by the commis- 
sioner or resist and disobey any lawful com- 
mand, or in case auy such person shall offer 
violence to any such officer or to any other 
prisoner, or shall do or attempt to do any 
injury to such Institution or the appurte- 
nances thereof or any property therein, or 
shall attempt to escape, or shall combine 
with any one or more persons for any of the 
aforesaid purposes, the officer or officers of 
such institution shall all suitable means 
to defend themselves, to enforce discipline, 
to secure the persons of the offenders and to 
prevent any such attempt or escape, and It 
shall be the duty of the officer in charge of 
such institution In which such person or per- 
sons. is or are confined to punish him or 
them by solitary confinement, and by being 
fed on bread and water only, for such length 
of time as may be considered necessary; but 
no other form of punishment shall be im- 
posed, and no officers of any such institution 
shall inflict any blows whatever upon any 
prisoner except in self-defense or to suppress 
a revolt or Insurrection. In every case the 
officer imposing such punishment shall forth- 
with report the same to the commissioner and 
notify the physician of the institution. It 
shall be the duty of such physician to visit 
the person so confined and to examine daily 
into the state of his health until he shall be 
released irom solitary confinement and re- 
turn to labor, and to report to the commis- 
sioner and to the officer in charge of such 
institution whenever in his Judgment the 
health of the prisoner shall require that he 
should be released. 

Accounts; annual estimate; expendi- 
tures. 

Sec. 703. The commissioner shall keep ac- 
curate and detailed accounts In a form ap- 
proved by the comptroller, of all moneys re- 
ceived and expended by him, the sources 
from which they are received and the pur- 
poses for which they are expended. The 
commissioner shall, on or before the first day 
of September in each year, prepare an item- 
ized estimate of the necessary expenses of 
the department for the ensuing fiscal year, 
which estimate shall constitute the annual 
estimate of the department of correction, 
and shall be submitted to the board of esti- 
mate aud apportionment within the time 
prescribed by this act for the submission of 
estimates from the several departments of 
the city. He shall incur uo expense for any 
purpose in excess of the amount appropriated 
therefor, nor shall he expend any money so 
appropriated for auy purpose other than that 
for which it wao appropriated. 
Advertisement* for supplies. 

Sec. 704. The commissioner shall from time 
to time, as may bo necessary, advertise in 
"■<- Ci v \ t; ); . pel'll, i* j| t|n i new’- 


papers, for not less than ten days for pro- 
posals for all such articles and supplies (ex- 
cepting perishable articles) as shall be neces- 
sary to be used in and for the institutions in 
the department, except such as the depart- 
ment itself can produce by the labor of the 
inmates of lnstitutione, and shall award con- 
tracts for the same to the lowest responsi- 
ble bidders who shall give adequate security 
for the faithful performance of such con- 
tracts. In case of an emergency the com- 
missioner may purchase articles immediately 
required without calling for competition, but 
the amount expended by the commissioner 
for articles so required or for perishable 
articles shall not exceed the sum of two 
thousand dollars during any one moDth. 

Requisitions and reports of subor- 
dinate officer*. 

Sea. 705. Each superintendent, warden, or 
other- chief officer of any Institution under 
the charge of the commissioner shall make 
hl 3 requisitions In writing upon the commis- 
sioner for all articles deemed necessary by the 
said officer to be used In the Institution or 
institutions under his charge, and shall 
keep an accurate account of the same. It shali 
also be the duty of each such superintendent, 
w arden or other chief officer to report once in 
each week to the commissioner the number of 
persons who have been received, discharged 
or transferred, who have become sick or who 
have died, and the number remaining in the 
respective Institutions under their charge, 
the discipline which has been maintained, and 
the quantity and kind of labor performed, and 
such other information as the commissioner 
requires. 

Collection of tines. 

Sec. 706. The department of correction Is 
hereby authorized to demand and receive fines 
imposed for Intoxication and disorderly con- 
duct in The City of New York as constituted 
by this act in the manner aud for the pur- 
poses now prescribed by law. 

Commitment of persons convicted of 
public intoxication, disorderly con- 
duct or vagrancy. 

Sec. 707. Whenever any person is convicted 
in The City of New York as constituted by 
this act, of public Intoxication, disorderly 
conduct or vagrancy, the court or magistrate, 
before which or whom such conviction is had, 
shall, if It or he do not suspend sentence as 
hereinafter provided, impose upon the person 
so convicted one or other of the penalties 
herein provided. Upon a charge of vagrancy 
If the person so convicted be a prostitute be- 
tween the ages of sixteen and twenty-one, tho 
ccurt or magistrate may commit such person, 
for not exceeding one year. In the boroughs 
of Manhattan and The Bronx, to the Roman 
Catholic House of the Good Shepherd, the 
ProtestaDt Episcopal House of Mercy or the 
New York Magdalen Benevolent Society; in 
the borough of Brooklyn to the Wayside 
Home, House of the Good Shepherd or the Be- 
thesda Home, and in the other boroughs to 
one of the above named institutions or to 
any other similar Institution for women in- 
corporated to carry on reformatory or rescue 
work iu The City of New York. All other 
persons convicted upon a charge of vagrancy, 
including persons convicted as prostitutes 
and not committed to a reformatory as here- 
inafter provided shall be committed, in the 
boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx, to 
the workhouse on Blackwell’s Island, in the 
Borough of Brooklyn to the penitentiary of 
said borough, and in the other boroughs of 
sold city to a eeuUj Jnii, for the term h, s.x 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


75 


months. Upon a charge of public Intoxication 
or disorderly conduct, the court or magistrate 
may impose a penalty as follows: 

1. Commit the person so convicted In the 
boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx, to 
the workhouse. In the borough of Brooklyn 
to the penitentiary of said borough, and in 
the other boroughs of the said city, to a 
county jail or to said workhouse or to said 
penitentiary, to he deJLalned for the term of 
six months. 

2. Impose a fine not exceeding ten dollars. 
Upon the payment of the fine Imposed, the 
person so convicted shall be forthwith dis- 
charged from custody. If, in the judgment 
of the court or magistrate, the person so con- 
victed may be relied upon to pay the fine im- 
posed within a reasonable time, the person 
so convicted may be conditionally released, 
and shall be furnished by the clerk of the 
court with a written certificate that he is 
released upon condition that the fine imposed 
be paid into court within a time to be named 
in the certificate. If the fine be not paid 
within such time, the court or magistrate 
sitting in the magistrate’s court in which 
such conviction was had, shall issue a war- 
rant for the arrest of such person, and shall 
commit him pursuant to the provisions of this 
section, as to commitment in case of the non- 
payment of a fine imposed, in the same man- 
ner as if he had not theretofore been condi- 
tionally released. If the flue imposed be not 
paid forthwith, the person so fined shall, if 
he be not conditionally released as herein- 
above provided, be committed in the boroughs 
of Manhattan and The Bronx to a city prison 
or county jail,’ and in the other boroughs of 
said city to the county jail of the county in 
which he shall have been convicted, for not 
exceeding ten days, each day of imprison- 
ment to be taken as a liquidation of one dol- 
lar of the fine. 

3. Require any person convicted of disor- 
derly conduct to give sufficient surety or sure- 
ties for his good behavior for a period of 
time, to be recited in the commitment, of 
not more than six months. In default of 
giving such surety forthwith, the court or 
magistrate shall commit such person, in the 
boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx to the 
city prison, to be thereafter transferred to 
and detained in the workhouse, in the bor- 
ough of Brooklyn to the penitentiary, and in 
the other boroughs of said city to the county 
jail of the county in which he shall have been 
convicted or to said workhouse or to said 
penitentiary, to be there detained, unless 
sooner discharged pursuant to section seven 
hundred and eleven of this act, until such 
surety is furnished, or until the expiration 
of the period of time fixed by said commit- 
ment as aforesaid. 

4. Nothing in this section contained shall 
be so construed as to prevent any court or 
magistrate from committing any person so 
convicted to any state institution to which, 
and for any term longer than six months, 
such magistrate may now be authorized to 
commit by law. 

5. Any court or magistrate may suspend 

sentence in the case of any person convicted 
as in this section provided and release such 
person upon probation upon such terms and 
conditions, and. for such period of time, not 
exceeding six months, as the court or mag- 
istrate may deem best. A person released 
on probaflS^ in accordance with the provis- 
ions of this section shall be placed under the 
charge and supervision of a probation officer, 
to be appointed as provided in this section, 
and shall be furnished by the clerk of the 
coi’r f with n •♦lUer’ert fhe lc-~rns 

an I c v 1 . n o . i t < 


during the probationary term of a person 
convicted and released under the provisions 
of this section it shall appear to the court 
before which, or the magistrate sitting in the 
magistrate’s court In which the person so 
convicted was convicted, by report of the 
probation officer under whose care such per- 
son was placed, or otherwise, that such per- 
son has violated any of the terms or condi- 
tions of his release, the said court or magis- 
trate may issue a warrant for the arrest of 
such person, and If it shall appear that such 
violation has occurred, it or he may commit 
him in accordance with the provisions of this 
section lu the same manner as If such person 
had not theretofore been released upon pro- 
bation. 

6. The court of special sessions of each 
division of The City of New York, and the 
board of city magistrates of each division of 
The City of New York, shall have authority 
to appoint such number of discreet persons 
of good character, either men or women, 
to serve as probation officers, as said courts 
or boards may deem necessary, to serve dur- 
ing the pleasure of the court or board of 
magistrates appointing them and without 
compensation. The board of city magistrates 
of each division of The City of New York 
shall assign the probation officers appointed 
by it to the various city magistrates’ courts 
In its division, and each probation officer 
shall act only as an officer of the city magis- 
trates’ court to which he is so assigned. The 
court of special sessions of the second di- 
vision of The City of New York shall assign 
the probation officers appointed by It to each 
of the three boroughs In that division, and 
each probation officer so assigned shall act 
only as an officer of the court of special ses- 
sions of the second division, in the borough 
to which he is so assigned. 

7. It shall be the duty of the probation of- 
ficers appointed under the provisions of this 
section to supervise the conduct of each per- 
son placed under their charge respectively, 
and to report any violation by any such per- 
son of the terms aud conditions of his re- 
lease; to make such investigation as may be 
required by the court or magistrate in the 
case of any person accused or convicted of 
public intoxication, disorderly conduct or 
Vagrancy, and to furnish such Information 
as may be necessary to assist the court or 
magistrate in making a proper disposition of 
each case; and to render such assistance 
and advice to the persons placed under their 
charge as each case may require. If two or 
more probation officers are attached to any 
court of special sessions or city magistrate’s 
court, the court or magistrate shall desig- 
nate the officer under whose charge each 
person on probation shall be placed. 

Superintendent of tlie workhouse; re- 
ports. 

Sec. 708. It shall be the duty of the super- 
intendent of the workhouse to ascertain 
from the records thereof and from examina- 
tion and inspection of the person committed 
as aforesaid whether such person has since 
April fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
five, and within two years next preceding the 
date of his commitment, been previously com- 
mitted to such Institution upon conviction of 
public Intoxication, disorderly conduct or 
vagrancy. Within twenty-four hours after 
the commitment of any such person to the 
workhouse, the said superintendent shall 
transmit to the commissioner a written 
statement showing the name, sex, age, resi- 
dence, occupation, height, weight and the 
color of the hair of any such person, and de- 
scribing any scars, marks or deformities, or 
vt,. -hcr-'M sue'- i r. . 


sequently be Identified, the date of the com- 
mitment, the offense for which such per- 
son was committed, and the name ‘of the 
magistrate by whom the commitment was 
made. Such statement shall also show 
whether such person has been previously 
committed to such institution within the pe- 
riod, and- for any one of the causes above 
specified, and, if so, the number of times that 
such person has been so committed during 
such period, the date of the last previous 
commitment of such person for either of 
said offenses, the name of the magistrate by 
whom and the offense for which such last 
previous commitment was made, and the pe- 
riod of detention under such last previou* 
commitment. 

uulji'.J 

Record of persons committed. 

Sec. 709. It shall be the duty of the com- 
missioner to keep a book or books, card in- 
dex or other register, In which shall he prop- 
erly recorded the names of all persons whose 
commitments have been certified to him as 
required by section seven hundred and eight 
of this act, and all other facts which shall 
be certified to him as herein required by the 
superintendent, warden or sheriff having 
charge of the institution to which such per- 
sons shall have been committed. Such book 
or books, index or register, are hereby de- 
clared to be public records and shall be open 
to public Inspection, and shall be Indexed and 
kept so as to show whether any person 
whose commitments have been so certified to 
him have been previously committed after 
January first, nineteen hundred and two, and 
within tw r o years next preceding such co- 
mitment for any of the causes herein speci- 
fied. 

Time of discharge; how to be ascer- 
tained. 

Sec. 710. Within three days after the com- 
mitment of any person upon a conviction of 
vagrancy or under subdivision one of section 
seven hundred and seven of this act it shall 
be the duty of the commissioner to ascertain 
from the aforesaid records whether sueh 
person has been commuted to the workhouse, 
penitentiary or county jail after January 
first, nineteen hundred and two, and within 
two years next preceding the date of such 
commitment, for public intoxication, disor- 
derly conduct or vagrancy, and to make a 
written order specifying the date at which 
such person shall be discharged, as follo’.vs, 
namely: In the case of a person who has not 
previously been committed for any one of th* 
offenses herein specified within two years 
next preceding the date of his last commit- 
ment and after January first, nineteen hun- 
dred and two, the said order shall direct that 
such person shall be discharged at the ex- 
piration of five days from date of Ills com- 
mitment; in the case of a person who fcfc* 
been committed once before within the ie- 
riod of two years next preceding the date 
of his commitment and after January first, 
nineteen hundred and two, for any of Ihe 
offenses herein specified, the said order shall 
direct that such person shall be discharged 
at the expiration of twenty days from the 
date of his commitment; and in case of a 
person who has been committed more than 
once during the two years next preceding 
the date of his commitment, and after Jan- 
uary first, nineteen hundred and two, for any 
of the offenses herein specified, the said or- 
der shall direct that such person be dis- 
charged at the expiration of a period equal 
to twice the term of his detention under the 
last previous commitment, but not, in any 
event, exceeding the period fixed by the war- 
rrr.t o' -•—’v ! -r t ovl ' 1 V : -pt***. V'- \ 


76 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


that In case of a person committed upon con- 
viction of vagrancy no order for the discharge 
of such person before the period fixed by 
the warrant of commitment shall be made 
without the written consent, endorsed upon 
such order, of the court or magistrate by 
which or whom such vagrant was committed. 

^jond, that whenever the period of deten- 
tion of any such person under his last 
previous commitment shall have exceeded 
the period of detention provided for by this 
section either by reason of hie detention on 
failure to furnish security for his good be- 
havior or by reason of the detention of euch 
person upon a conviction of vagrancy beyond 
the period of detention so provided for, or 
by the ceasing, as hereinafter provided, of 
the right of such person to be discharged 
before the expiration of the full period fixed 
by the original warrant of commitment, then 
such excess of detention under his last 
previous commitment shp.ll not be consid- 
ered by the commissioner in determining 
the date of his discharge under the existing 
commitment. Third, in specifying the date 
at which such person shall be discharged, 
the commissioner shall not consider the rec- 
ords of any other institution than that to 
which such person has been committed by 
the existing commitment. The said order 
shall also contain with respect to the person 
thereby discharged the dates of any of his 
previous commitments after January first, 
nineteen hundred and two, and within two 
years next preceding the date of the exist- 
ing commitment, and also the actual periods 
of detention under any such previous com- 
mitments, and the said order shall forthwith 
be transmitted to the superintendent, war- 
den or sheriff having charge of the insti- 
tution to which such person has been com- 
mitted, who shall discharge euch person ac- 
cordingly. It shall be the duty of the said 
superintendent, warden or sheriff, as the 
case may be, whenever the date of discharge 
named in such order is more than five days 
from the date of the warrant of commit- 
ment, to serve, within twenty-four hours 
thereafter, a copy of said order and section 
eeven hundred and ten of this act upon the 
person named therein, and such person may, 
within twenty-four hours after such service, 
notify the superintendent, warden or sher- 
iff, in writing, that he claims the date of 
discharge named in the said order to be 
erroneous, for the reason that he haa not 
In fact been previously committed upon one 
or more of the dates specified in said order 
as those of his previous commitments under 
section seven hundred and seven of this act. 
Upon receipt of such notification, the super- 
intendent, warden or sheriff shall cause 
such person to be again brougnt before the 
court or magistrate by which or whom he 
■?e.s last committed. If such court be not 
£>en in session, or If such magls- 
frete be not then sitting, then 
such person shall be brought before any 
magistrate sitting in the borough in which 
such person was last committed. No such 
person shall be so brought before the court 
or magistrate, except upon twenty-four 
hours’ notice and after an opportunity has 
been given him to retain counsel and sub- 
poena such witnesses as he desires. It shall 
be the duty of the court or magistrate be- 
fore which or whom such person is brought 
thereupon to hear and determine the ques- 
tion whether such person has in fact been 
previously committed at the dates and de- 
tained for the periods named in said order, 
• d to make an order modifying said order 
so as to provide for a date of discharge under 
the last commitment.. In accordance with 
tfce facts and according to the provisions 


established by this section for the guidance 
of the commissioner. If upon the hearing, 
the said court or magistrate shall determine 
that the facts recited in the said order are 
true, he shall make a written finding to that 
effect, and thereupon any right of the pris- 
oner to be discharged before the expiration 
of the full period fixed by the original war- 
rant of commitment 6hall cease, and the 
said prisoner shall be detained until the ex- 
piration of said period. The date of any 
order made pursuant to thi3 section and the 
name of the person whose period of deten- 
tion is fixed thereby, and the period of de- 
tention therein specified shall be entered 
In the records required to be kept by sec- 
tion seven hundred and nine of this act, 
and the said order shall forthwith be trans- 
mitted^o the superintendent of the work- 
house. Upon the expiration of the term of 
detention of any such person and upon the 
discharge of the person named therein, it 
shall be the duty of such superintendent, 
warden or sheriff, as the case may be, forth- 
with to return such order, with a written 
certificate endorsed thereon, specifying the 
date of the discharge of the person named 
therein, to the commissioner, who shall pre- 
serve the same as a public record. 
Discharge of persons committed. 

Sec. 711. In any case where a person has 
been committed under subdivision three of 
section seven hundred and seven of this act, 
and in any case coming under section seven 
hundred and ten of this act, where the date 
of discharge named in the commissioner’s 
order shall be more than twenty days and 
less than one hundred and sixty days after 
the date of the last warrant of commit- 
ment, the magistrate who signed the last 
warrant of commitment, may, after the ex- 
piration of twenty days, direct the discharge 
of any person so committed, but no such 
order shall be granted by any magistrate 
in any case where the order of the commis- 
sioner has been reviewed by a court or mag- 
istrate as provided by section seven hundred 
and ten of this act, and the facts recited 
therein have been found to be true, nor 
shall such order be granted by any magis- 
trate except upon the written certifi- 
cate of the commissioner specifying the 
date of discharge named by him for the par- 
son so committed, and upon an affidavit set- 
ting forth facts which, in the opinion of said 
magistrate, shall Justify such discharge. The 
said affidavit and certificate shall be filed and 
preserved with the complaint upon which 
such person was last convicted. Upon any 
subsequent commitment upon a conviction of 
vagrancy or under subdivision one of section 
seven hundred and seven of this act of a 
person so discharged, the commissioner shall 
direct the discharge of such person after the 
expiration of the term for which he would 
have been detained under the existing com- 
mitment if no such order had been granted. 
Transfer of inmates by commissioner. 

Sec. 712. The commissioner may transfer 
and commit and cause to be transferred and 
committed from the workhouse to the city 
prison, or to either of the penitentiaries or 
to any other of the institutions in the de- 
partment, any person committed to the work- 
house under section seven hundred and seven 
of this act, whenever such transfer shall be 
necessary for the proper care and manage- 
ment of such city prison, penitentiaries or 
other institution or for the proper employ- 
ment of such person. Th# commissioner 
may also transfer and commit and caus.6 to 
be transferred from the workhouse to the 
city prison or said penitentiaries any person 
committed to tho workhouse under section 


seven hundred and seven of this act, when- 
ever, by reason of the number of offenders 
actually detained in such workhouse at any 
time there shall not be accommodation 
therein for all the persons committed there- 
to; and in like manner the commissioner 
may in his discretion transfer prisoners from 
one penitentiary to another penitentiary 
within the department or from one district 
prison to another district prison within the 
department. The commissioner may also 
transfer and commit or cause to be trans- 
ferred and committed from the city prison or 
either of said penitentiaries to the work- 
house to be detained and employed therein 
any person who shall have been duly com- 
mitted thereto. 

Alteration and repair of buildings. 

Sec. 713. Whenever the Increase of inmates 
in or the proper care and government of the 
institutions In the department shall in the 
judgment of the commissioner render it nec- 
essary or expedient, he shall have power to 
enlarge or alter the building or buildings oc- 
cupied by such Ii^titutlons; and he shall also 
have power to make all needful repairs to 
such buildings and th» appurtenances there- 
to, provided that an appropriation has been 
made therefor. The commissioner shall 
when practicable cause the work of such al- 
terations or repairs to be done by persons 
confined in such institutions. 

Additional gifts to be given to Inmates 

on discharge. 

Sec. 714. In addition to the donations, pro- 
vided by the general laws of the state, to 
be given to inmates of penal Institutions 
upon their discharge, the commissioner of 
correction shall donate to each inmate serv- 
ing a term longer than three years the sum 
of five dollars upon his discharge. 

(Slatrons In prlslons for women— three 

sections added In 1903.) 

Sec. 715. The commissioner of correction 
may appoint for each prison, jail, workhouse 
or place of detention, now or hereafter under 
his jurisdiction, where women prisoners are 
detained, at least one woman, and such other 
women as in his judgment may \>e neces- 
sary, who shall be known as matrons. The 
matrons shall have charge of and supervis- 
ion over all women prisoners and all parts 
at their respective prisons occupied by such 
women prisoners, or such parts thereof as 
may be designated to come under their con- 
trol by the officer in command thereof. At 
least one matron shall be on duty in each 
prison as long as any woman prisoner is de- 
tained therein. Matrons shall also search 
all women visiting any part of such prisons, 
except as otherwise ordered by the commis- 
sioner. No officer other than the matron 
shall be admitted to the corridor or cells of- 
the women prisoners without the cousent of 
the officer in charge of said prison. Added 
by Laws of 1903, Chapter 511. 

Sec. 716. The matrons may be graded into 
three grades according to their years of 
service in the department of correction. All 
mafrons who shall have served more than 
five years may be members of the first grade 
and shall receive not less than nine hundred 
dollars as annual pay or compensation; all 
matrons who shall have served not more 
than five nor less than three years may be 
members of the second grade, and shall re- 
ceive not less than seven hundred and fifty 
dollars as annual pay or compensation; all 
matrons who shall have served less than 
three years may be members of the third 
grade and shall receive not less than six 
hundred dollars, as annual pay or compensa- 
tion; the pay or compensation above pr®- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


77 


vided shall be payable monthly to each per- 
son entitled thereto. The board of estimate 
and apportionment and the board of aider- 
men may appropriate annually such sum as 
may be necessary for the appointment, sal- 
ary and maintenarwe of matrons. Added by 
Laws of 1903, Chapter 511. 

Sec. 717. All persons now in the employ of 
the department of correction known as 
matrons or assistant matrons, and all those 
by whatever name known, who have per- 
formed the duties of matrons as set forth in 
section seven hundred and fifteen for the last 
three years In the department of correction 
are hereby appointed matrons, and shall be 
continued In office under the title of matrons. 
Added by Laws of 1903, Chapter 511. 

CHAPTER XV. 

FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

Title 1. Organization, duties and powers of 
officers and men. 

Title 2. Fires and their extinction. 

Title 3. Prevention of fires; explosives and 
combustible materials. 

Title 4. Fire marshals, and investigation 
of origin of fires. 

Title 5. Relief fund and pensions. 

Title 6. Tax upon foreign insurance com- 
panies. 

TITLE 1. 

ORGANIZATIONS, DUTIES AND POW- 
ERS OF ITS OFFICERS AND MEN. 

Fire commissioners; salary. 

Sec. 720. The head of the fire department 
shall be called the fire commissioner. He 
shall be appointed by the mayor, and hold 
his offloe as provided in chapter four of this 
act. The salary of the fire commissioner 
shall be seven thousand five hundred dollars 
a year. 

Office in the borongh of Brooklyn. 

Sec. 721. The fire commissioner shall ap- 
point a deputy commissioner, who shall be 
seated at the office of the fire department in 
the borough of Brooklyn, through whom such 
business, duties and powers of the fire de- 
partment in the boroughs of Brooklyn and 
Queens shall be conducted, performed and 
exercised, as may be directed by the fire 
commissioner. The deputy commissioner 
shall, during the absence or disability of the 
commissioner, possess all the powers and 
perform all the duties of the commissioner, 
throughout the city, except the power of 
making appointments. 

Consolidation of departments; volnn- 

teer departments. 

Sec. 722. The officers and members of the 
uniformed force and legally appointed fire- 
men in the corporation formerly known as 
the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the 
city of New York, and in the city of Brook- 
lyn and in the city of Long Island City are 
hereby made members of the fire depart- 
ment of the city of New' York, as hereby 
constituted, and shall be assigned to duty 
therein by the fire commissioner, with the 
rank and grade now held .by them respec- 
tively, as nearly as may be practicable. The 
paid fire department system shall, as soon 
as practicable, be extended over the bor- 
oughs of Queens and Richmond, by the fire 
commissioner, and thereupon the present 
volunteer fire departments now maintained 
therein shall be disbanded. Any real prop- 
erty and likewise any apparatus, equipment 
or other personal property owned or used 
by said volunteer forces which may be 
deemed useful or necessary for the use of 
the fire department, shall, upon extension 
of the paid system to the boroughs of Queens 


and Richmond, respectively, be purchased by 
the fire commissioner at the reasonable 
value thereof. In the meantime, and until 
the said fire department shall be extended 
over said territory as herein provided, said 
volunteer fire companies shall continue to 
discharge the duties for which they have 
been associated or incorporated, and said 
companies shall receive from the city such 
sums as are now aw'arded to them by the 
villages or towns in which they are re- 
spectively located, except that in the bor- 
oughs of Richmond and Queens there shall 
be paid on the first day of June in each year 
to the treasurers of the several volunteer 
fire companies, by the comptroller of the city 
of New York, the following sums; To the 
treasurer of an engine company or chemical 
engine company, twelve hundred dollars, to 
the treasurer of a hook and ladder company 
ten hundred dollars, to the treasurer of a 
hose company eight hundred dollars, and to 
the treasurer of a patrol company eight hun- 
dred dollars. Whenever hereafter the paid 
fire department shall be extended into any 
part of the territory of The City of New York, 
as hereby constituted, in which now or here- 
after there shall exist a volunteer fire de- 
partment, such members of said volunteer 
fire department in said locality as may be in 
active service shall, upon their passing a 
non-competitive examination for fitness, the 
conditio'ifc of which shall first be approved 
by the fire commissioner, as prescribed by 
the municipal civil service commission 
rules, notice of which examination shall 
have been previously given by publication 
in the official papers of the borough in which 
the extension is proposed, be placed at the 
head of any eligible list certified for ap- 
pointment and be preferred for appoint- 
ment as firemen in the paid department and 
the volunteer benevolent associations exist- 
ing w'ithln said territory shall possess all 
the privileges, and be entitled to all the 
rights now conferred by law on such asso- 
ciations. The board of estimate and ap- 
portionment may, in its discretion, appro- 
priate such sum of money as they may deem 
necessary for the purchase of apparatus for 
use of the several volunteer companies 
in the boroughs of Richmond and Queens, 
and for fhe maintenance of fire alarm sys- 
tems in such boroughs. The certificate of 
incorporation of any new volunteer fire com- 
pany in the city of New York, in addition 
to the requirements therefor provided in 
the general laws of the state, also require 
the approval of the fire commissioner. — As 
amended by Laws of 1902, Chapter 583. 

Treasurer. 

Sec. 723. The fire commissioner shall be the 
treasurer of the fire department, and shall 
file in the office of the comptroller a bond in 
the sum of twenty thousand dollars for the 
faithful performance of his duties as such 
treasurer. 

Powers. 

Sec. 724. The fire commissioner shall pos- 
sess find exercise fully and exclusively all 
powers, and perform all duties for the govern- 
ment, management, maintenance and direc- 
tion of the fire department of the city, and 
the premises and property thereof. The said 
department shall have sole and exclusive 
power and authority to extinguish fires in 
said city. All real estate, fire apparatus, hose- 
implements, tools, bells, and bell-towers, fire- 
telegraph, and all property of whatever na- 
ture, in use by the firemen or fire department 
of the city, belonging to said city, shall be 
in the keeping and custody of the fire de- 
partment, and for the use of said department. 
But the said' property shall remain the prop- 


erty of The City of New York, subject to 
the public uses of said department, as afore- 
said and for the purposes provided by this 
chapter. And whenever any of the said prop- 
erty shall no longer be needed by the said 
department for the purposes of this chapter, 
the commissioner shall surrender the same to 
the city. 

Hornes, apparatus, etc., to be provided. 

Sec. 725. The fire commissioner shall, sub- 
ject to the other provisions of this act, have 
full power to provide supplies, horses, tools, 
implements, and apparatus of any and all 
kinds (to be used in the extinguishing of 
fires), and fire telegraphs, to provide suitable 
locations for the same, and to buy, sell, 
construct, repair, and have the care of the 
same, and take any and all such action in 
the premises as may be reasonably necessary 
and proper. 

To control and manage property, etc. 

Sec. 726. The fire commissioner shall pos- 
sess and exercise full and exclusive power 
aqd discretion for the government, manage- 
ment, maintenance and direction of the sev- 
eral buildings and premises, and bell-towers, 
and property, and appurtenances thereto, and 
all apparatus, hose, implements, and tools 
of any and all kinds which may belong to 
or be in the use of the said department. 

Bnreaaa. 

Sec. 727. The fire commissioner shall have 
power to organize the fire department into 
such bureaus, as may be convenient and 
necessary for the performance of the duties 
imposed upon him. One bureau shall be 
charged with the duty of preventing and 
extinguishing fires and of protecting prop- 
erty from water used at fires, the principal 
officer of which shall be called the “chief of 
department.” Another bureau shall be 
charged with the execution of all laws re'- 
lating to the storage, sale, and use of com- 
bustible materials, the principal officer of 
which shall be called "inspector of combus- 
tibles.” The salary of said inspector of com- 
bustibles shall be three thousand dollars a 
year. Another bureau shall be charged wltjl 
the investigatio'h of the origin and cause of 
fires, the principal officers of which shaH be 
called “fire marshals." A branch of said 
bureau shall be located in ths borough of 
Brooklyn. 

Selection of subordinates. 

Sec. 728. The fire commissioner shall have 
power to select heads of bureaus and as- 
sistants and as many officers and firemen 
as may be necessary, and they shall at all 
times be under the control of the fire com- 
missioner, and shall perform such duties as 
may be assigned to them by him, un- 
der such names or titles as he may 
confer; provided, however, that assign- 
ments to duty and promotions in the uni- 
formed force shall be made by the fire 
commissioner upon the recommendation 
of the chief of department, and in case any 
recommendation so made by the chief shall 
be rejected, he shall, within three days, 
submit another name or names, and con- 
tinue so to do until the assignment or pro- 
motion is made. Promotions of officers and 
members of the force shall be made by the 
fire commissioner as provided in section one 
hundred and twenty-four of this act on the 
basij of seniority, meritorious service in 
the department and superior capacity as 
shown by competitive examination. Individ- 
ual acts of personal bravery may be treated 
as an element of meritorious service in such 
examination, the relative rating therefore to 
Be fixed by the municipal civil service com- 


78 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


mission. The Are commissioner shall trans,- 
mit to the municipal civil service commis- 
sion in advance of such examination the 
complete record of each candidate for pro- 
motion. 

Location of fire alarm telegraph, etc.; 

penalty for Interference therewith. 

Sec. 729. The fire commissioner shall have 
exclusive right and power from time to time 
to designate and fix the location of all fire 
alarm telegraph, signal and alarm stations 
in the city, and to have access to and the 
control of the same for the purposes of the 
department; to fix upon and adopt the colors 
or combination of colors in painting the 
poles, boxes, and fixtures thereof, and the 
kind or style of keys and appliances by which 
to operate the same; to select and desig- 
nate the places of deposit for keeping the 
keys of the various stations, and to desig- 
nate the officers and persons who shall be 
intrusted with duplicate keys and author- 
ized to use the same, and to make from time 
to time such rules and regulations govern- 
ing the possession, return or use thereof, 
and as to the use and control of said tele- 
graph, as he may deem necessary; and no 
person other than the said commissioner or 
the officers and employe specially authorized 
to operate said telegraph, or to use the same 
for instruction or drill, or policemen or citi- 
zens using the same for communicating an 
actual alarm of fire, shall make use there- 
of; and no person shall use the keys or ap- 
pliances thereof for communicating a false 
alarm, or experimenting or tampering with 
the same for any purpose whatever, or have 
or possess any key thereof, without such 
authority; and no person, association, cor- 
poration, or company shall post, paint, im- 
press, or in any way affix to any pole con- 
nected with said fire-alarm telegraph, or any 
box, wire, or other appliance connected 
therewith, any placard, sign, broadside, no- 
tice, or announcement of any kind, or cut, 
mutilate, alter, mar, deface, cover, obstruct 
or interfere with the same in any manner 
whatii«r«*, or paint or cause to be painted, 
the poles of any other telegraph, or any 
other poles on the lines thereof, of a simi- 
lar color or colors, or in imitation thereof, 
nor consent, allow', or be privy to any of 
said things being done for them or upon 
their behalf; and any offense against the 
provisions of this section shall be punished 
as a misdemeanor, and subject the party or 
parties violating the same to an additional 
penalty of one hundred dollars. No kite 
shall be flow'n, raised, or put up in the streets 
or avenues adjacent to the lines of said tele- 
graph, or allowed to become entangled with 
the wires or apparatus of said telegraph, 
under a penalty of ten dollars for every such 
offense; and the police board and their offi- 
cers are specially charged and directed to 
aid in the enforcement of this section. The 
fire commissioner is further authorized and 
empowered to extend the fire alarm tele- 
graph system whenever in his judgment it 
shall be deemed desirable, by the purchase, 
lease or license of the whole or a part or 
parts of the appliance, apparatus, equipment, 
patents, licenses, franchises, rights, contracts 
or otter property of any kind, of any fire 
alarm telegraph or fire signal company now 
doing business in, or which may hereafter 
do business in, the city of New York, at a 
price to be agreed upon with the persons 
or corporation owning the same, and every 
such corporation is hereby authorized to sell, 
lease or license the same to the city, pro- 
vided such purchase, lease or license shall 
first be approved by the board of estimate 
*od apportionment; and the said board is 


authorized and empowered to issue corporate 
stock in such amount or amounts as may 
be necessary to make sueh purchase, and the 
comptroller shall thereupon Issue such stock 
to the amount so authorized without the ap- 
proval of any other board or public body. 
The fire commissioner shall thereafter have 
power to enter in person or by his duly au- 
thorized employes, the buildings or premises 
which have been or may be provided, upon 
the application of the owners or agents there- 
of, or W'hich are directed by the commissioner 
pursuant to the provisions of law to be pro- 
vided with the means of communicating 
alarms of fire, for the purpose of maintain- 
ing, repairing, examining cr installing the 
same. The fire commissioner is further au- 
thorized to fix and collect reasonable charges 
for the maintenance and equipment of such 
special fire alarm service thus provided, and 
such moneys when collected by him shall be 
paid into the general fund for the reduction 
of taxation. — As amended by Laws of 1902, 
Chapter 38S. 

Business offices; seal. 

Sec. 730. The said fire commissioner shall, 
subject to the other provisions of this act, 
provide such offices and business accommo- 
dations as may be requisite for the transac- 
tion of the business of the department and 
that of its subordinates. The commissioner 
may adopt a common seal and direct its use. 

Suits and actions. 

Sec. 731. The fire commissioner is hereby 
authorized, empowered, and especially 
charged with the duties of enforcing the sev- 
eral provisions of this chapter; and said fire 
commissioner is hereby authorized and em- 
powered to receive and collect all license fees 
mentioned in this chapter, and to sue for, 
and shall have the exclusive right of recov- 
ery of, any and all penalties imposed under 
this chapter, and may sue for and recover 
and collect the same, with costs, in 
the manner provided for in actions 
under the code of civil procedure, and 
shall apply the same to the uses and 
purposes of the relief fund of the fire 
department in The City of New York, and 
the said fire commissioner may bring any 
suit or action for the enforcement of its 
rights and contracts, and for the protection, 
possession, and maintenance of the property 
under the control of said department; and 
any action to recover any fee, fine, or pen- 
alty under this chapter may be brought in 
any of the municipal courts in said city; and 
the assistant corporation counsel assigned to 
the fire department shall, under the direc- 
tion of the fire commissioner, take eharge of 
the prosecution of all suits or proceedings 
instituted for the recovery and collection of 
penalties; and the enforcement of the several 
provisions of this chapter; collect and re- 
ceive all moneys upon judgments, suits, or 
proceedings so instituted; pay all costs and 
disbursements, and discontinue suits and 
proceedings, and execute satisfaction of Judg- 
ments upon payment of penalties or costs, 
and in compliance with orders made in such 
suits and proceedings; shall keep a correct 
and accurate register of all suits and pro- 
ceedings, and account for all moneys re- 
ceived and paid out thereon; and shall pay 
over to the treasurer of the relief fund the 
amount of all license fees, penalties, and 
moneys received and collected by him, and 
the said fire commissioner is authorized to 
settle or compromise any such suit or judg- 
ment for less than the amount of the same, 
in case, in his judgment', he is satisfied that 
the full amount cannot be collected. 


Members of force to decline nomina- 
tions to office. 

Sec. 732. Any officer or member of the uni- 
formed force of said department who shall 
be publicly nominated for any office, elec- 
tive by the people, and who shall not de- 
cline the said nomination w'ithin ten days 
succeeding notice of the same, shall be 
deemed to have vacated his office in the fire 
department. 

Uniforms and badge*. 

Sec. 733. It shall be the duty of the fire 
commissioner to make suitable regulations 
under which the officers and men of the fire 
department shall be required to wear an ap- 
propriate uniform and badge, by which in 
case of fire and at other times, the authority 
and relations of such officers and men in 
said department may be known as the exi- 
gency of their duties may require. The fire 
commissioner shall select the grade of cloth 
and quality required for said uniforms, but 
shall not prescribe where or of whom said 
uniforms or uniform clothing shall be pur- 
chased, or the price to be paid therefor, and 
no contractor or agents or employe of any 
contractor for the making of uniforms for 
the fire department shall have an office within 
any building belonging to or under the con- 
trol of said fire department. It shall be a 
misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment 
for a period of not less than sixty days, for 
a person not enrolled or employed, or ap- 
pointed by the said department, to wear the 
whole or any part of the uniform or insignia 
prescribed to be worn by the rules or regula- 
tions of the fire department, or do any act as 
fireman not duly authorized by the commis- 
sioner, or to interfere with the property or 
apparatus of the fire department in any man- 
ner unless by the authority of the fire com- 
missioner. Any person who shall falsely 
represent any member of the uniformed force 
of the fire department, or who shall ma- 
liciously, with intent to deceive, use, or imi- 
tate any of the signs, fire caps, badges, sig- 
nals or devices adopted or used by the said 
department, shall be deemed guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and shall be subject to a fine of 
not less than twenty-five dollars or more 
than two hundred and fifty dollars, and to 
imprisonment for a term of not less than 
ten days, or more than three months, such 
fines when collected, to be paid over to the 
trustees of the New York fire department 
relief fund.— As amended by Laws of 1901, 
Chapter 720. 

Qualifications of force. 

Sec. 734. No person shall be appointed to 
membership in the fire department or con- 
tinue to hold membership therein, who is not 
a citizen of the United States, or who has 
ever been convicted of felony; nor shall any 
person be appointed who can not read and 
write understanding^ the English language, 
or who shall not have resided within the 
state one year immediately prior to his ap- 
pointment, or who is not over the age of 
twenty-one and under the age of thirty 
years. Every , member of the uniformed 
force shall reside within the limits of the City 
of New York. 

Resignations and absences. 

Sec. 735. No member of the fire department 
shall, under penalty of forfeiting the 
salary or pay which may be due to him, 
withdraw or resign, except by permission of 
the fire commissioner. Unexplained absence, 
without leave, of any member of the uni- 
formed force, for five days, shall be deemed 
and held to be a resignation by such member, 
and accepted as such. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


79 


Military and jury duty; arrest. 

Sec. 736. No person holding office under this 
department shall be liable to military or jury 
duty, nor to arrest on civil process, or, whilst 
actually on duty, to service of pubpoenas 
from civil courts. 

Warrants ot appointment. 

Sec. 737. Every member of the uniformed 
force shall have issued to him a proper war- 
rant of appointment signed by the fire com- 
missioner. 

Oaths of office. 

See. 738. Each member of the uniformed 
force shall take an oath of office and sub- 
scribe the same before an officer of the de- 
partment empowered to administer an oath. 

Discipline, etc. 

Sec. 739. The government and discipline of 
the fire department shall be such as the fire 
commissioner may, from time to time, by 
rules, regulations and orders prescribe. The 
fire commissioner shall have power, in his 
discretion, on conviction of a member of the 
force of any legal offense or neglect of duty, 
or violation of rules, or neglect or disobedi- 
ence of orders, or incapacity, or absence 
without leave, or any conduct injurious to 
the public peace, or welfare, or immoral con- 
duct, or conduct unbecoming an officer or 
member or other breach of discipline, to pun- 
ish the offending party, by reprimand, for- 
feiting and withholding pay for a specified 
time, or dismissal from the force; but no 
more than ten days’ pay shall be forfeited 
and withheld for any offense. Officers and 
members of the uniformed force shall be re- 
movable only after written charges shall 
have been preferred against them, and after 
the charges shall have been publicly examined 
into, upon such reasonable notice of not less, 
than forty-eight hours to the person charged, 
and in such manner of examination as the 
rules and regulations of the fire commission- 
er may prescribe. The trial of any member 
of the uniformed force upon charges shall be 
held in the borough within which the ac- 
cused member was serving at the time the 
charge was preferred. The examination into 
such charges shall be conducted by the fire 
commissioner or by a deputy commissioner; 
but no decision shall be final or be enforced, 
until approved by the fire commissioner. No 
member of the uniformed force shall be per- 
mitted to contribute any moneys directly or 
indirectly to any political fund, or to join or 
become or be a member of any political club 
or association, or of any club or association 
intended to affect legislation for or on behalf 
of the fire department or any officer or mem- 
ber thereof, or to contribute any money di- 
rectly or indirectly for such purpose. The 
rules and regulations now in force shall con- 
tinue in force until modified or repealed by 
said commissioner. The rules and regula- 
tions of the fire department, as established 
from time to time by the fire commissioner, 
shall be printed, published and circulated 
among the officers and members of said de- 
partment. 

Grades, ranks anil salaries of officers 

and members of the uniformed force. 

Sec. 740. The ranks and salaries of officers 
of the fire department shall be as follows: 
Chief of department, whose annual salary 
shall be not more than six thousand dollars; 
deputy chiefs of department, whose salary 
shall be not more than four thousand two 
hundred dollars; battalion chiefs, whose an- 
nual salary shall be not more than three 
thousand three hundred dollars; captaiDs or 
foremen of companies, whose annual salary 


shall be not more than two thousand one 
hundred and sixty dollars; lieutenants or as- 
sistant foremen of companies, whose annual 
salary shall be not more than eighteen hun- 
dred dollars; engineers of steamers, whose 
annual salary shall be one thousand six hun- 
dred dollars. From and after January first, 
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, the uni- 
formed members of the fire department who 
are firemen shall be divided into four grades, 
to wit, first, second, third and fourth, and 
shall receive an annual pay or compensation 
as follows: Members of the first grade, four- 
teen hundred dollars; members of the second 
grade, twelve hundred dollars; members of 
the third grade, one thousand dollars, and 
members of the fourth grade, eight hundred 
dollars. The members of the uniformed force 
who are appointed after January first, eigh- 
teen hundred and ninety-eight, shall be as- 
signed to the fourth grade; after one year 
of service in the fourth grade they shall be 
advanced to the third grade; after one year 
of service in the third grade they shall be 
advanced to the second grade; after one year 
of service in the second grade they shall be 
advanced to the first grade, and they shall 
in each instance receive the annual pay or 
compensation of the grade to which they be- 
long as herein provided. All persons who, 
when this act takes effect, are firemen in 
the uniformed force of the fire department of 
the corporation heretofore known as the may- 
or, aldermen and commonalty of the city of 
New York, or of the city of Brooklyn, or of 
the corporation heretofore known as Bong 
Island City, shall thereupon become firemen 
of that grade having a salary thereto at- 
tached equal to the salary or compensation 
paid such firemen, respectively, at the time 
of the taking effect of this act; provided, 
however, that any such fireman who has 
been a member of the uniformed force 
in the city of Brooklyn, or in Bong 
Island City, whose salary falls between 
any two of the grades hereby establish- 
ed, shall within three years have his 
salary made equal to the salary of the 
first grade by equal annual additions. Noth- 
ing In this section contained shall be con- 
strued to change in any way the salaries 
or grading, present or prospective, of the fire- 
men who are or shall become members of 
the uniformed force of the New York fire 
department prior to January first, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-eight; and nothing in 
this section contained shall be construed 
to affect in any other way than a6 provided 
herein the rights and privileges secured un- 
der the provisions of this act to uniformed 
members of the various fire departments 
consolidated into one department by this 
act. The pay or compensation of the officers 
of the fire department and each of them 
mentioned in the first paragraph of thits sec- 
tion, and also the pay or compensation of 
district engineers and officers ranking as 
such, and of any other officers who, when 
this act takes effect, belong to the uniformed 
force of either of the fire department^ here- 
by consolidated into one department, shall 
be and remain fixed at the amount which 
they and each of them were severally re- 
ceiving or entitled to receive from the re- 
spective municipal corporations in whoso 
employ they svere prior to the taking effect 
of this act; provided, however, that the sal- 
aries of all such officers in either of said fire 
departments other than the New York de- 
partment. so consolidated into one depart- 
ment,' shall be made equal to the salaries of 
corresponding officers in said New York de- 
partment within three years from January 
first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, by 
equal annual additions; and provided further 


that if the difference in the pay received 
by such officers and the pay received by- 
corresponding officers of the New York fire 
department as heretofore existing, is not 
more than fifty dollars, when this act takes 
effect, tho pay shall be equalized at once. 
The pay or compensation aforesaid shall be 
paid monthly to each person entitled there- 
to, subject to such deductions each month 
from the pay or compensation of said per- 
sons as are or shall be authorized by law 
or by this act; and no pay or compensation 
shall be allowed or paid to any such fire- 
man or officer, except as in this section pro- 
vided for and declared, any other law to the 
contrary or otherwise notwithstanding. 
Police department to co-operate. 

Sec. 741. It shall he the duty of the fire 
department and of the police department, 
their respective officers and men, to co-op- 
erate together in all proper ways, and the 
said police department and fire department 
may respectively provide for protection 
against fire, and for the arrest of all per- 
sons who may, at or near any fire, commit, 
or attempt to commit, any crime against 
the law's of this state, or violate any rule 
or regulation of said police department or 
fire department. 

TITLE 2. 

FIRES AM) THEIR EXTINCTION. 

RJglit of way of tire department; ob- 
structing. 

See. 748. The officers and men of the fire 
department, and the officers and men of the 
Insurance patrol respectively, with their 
apparatus of all kinds, when on duty, 
shall have the right of way at and 
in proceeding to any fire in any high- 
way, street or avenue, over any and all 
vehicles of any kind, except those carrying 
the Tinited States mail. And any person In 
or upon any vehicle who shall refuse the 
right of way, or in any way obstruct any Gre 
apparatus, or any apparatus of the insurance 
patrol, or any of said officers, while in the 
performance of duty, shall be guilty of a mis- 
demeanor and be liable to punishment for 
the same. 

Hose-bridges on railway tracks. 

Sec. 749. The fire commissioner is empow- 
ered to provide for laying over the railway 
tracks of the city the hose used by the de- 
partment for the extinguishment of fire by 
such hose-bridges as he may deem neces- 
sary. The various railway companies operat- 
ing cars within the limits of The City of New 
York as constituted by this act shall provide, 
pay for and use such hose-bridges as may be 
designated by the said commissioner. 

Fire hydrants not to be obstructed. 

Sec. 750. No person shali in any manner 
obstruct the use of any fire hydrant in said 
city or allow any snow or Ico to be thrown or 
piled upon or around the same, or have or 
place, or allow to be placed, any material in 
front thereof, "from the curb line to the center 
of the 6treet, and to within ten feet from 
either side thereof, and all snow and ice ac- 
cumulating within such space shali be re- 
moved by the owner or owners, lessee or 
lessees, of the premises fronting (he same in 
the same manner as is prescribed for tho 
keeping clear of the sidewalk, under a pen- 
alty of ten dollars for each and every such of- 
fense, and any and all materia; found as an 
obstruction, as aforesaid, may be forthwith 
removed by the officers or employes of said 
department and at the risk, cost and expense 
of the owner or claimant, and said fire com- 


80 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


mlssioner may take all proper measures to 
keep said hydrants from freezing, and in 
proper condition for use at all times. 

Sappers and miners. 

Sec. 751. The Are commissioner is hereby 
empowered and directed to maintain in the 
fire department a corps to be known as the 
corps of sappers and miners. Said corps shall 
be composed of not exceeding three members, 
either officers or private firemen, of each com- 
pany in said fire department, and said mem- 
bers shall be appointed by said commissioner, 
upon the nomination of the chief of depart- 
ment. The said commissioner shall ’appoint 
a suitable officer, who shall be skilled in the 
use of explosives, whose duty it shall be to 
instruct and drill said corps in the use of ex- 
plosives, and to give said corps such other 
instruction as may be required to qualify 
them to effectually discharge the duties im- 
posed upon them by this title. Such officer 
shall receive an annual salary of two thou- 
sand dollars, and such salary shall be raised 
and paid in the same manner as the salaries 
of the other officers . appointed by said com- 
missioner. 

Id. 5 duties of. 

Sec. 752. Whenever, under and by virtue 
of the acts relating to the extinguishment 
of fires in the city, the destruction or pulling 
down of any building or buildings shall be 
deemed necessary and shall be ordered by ihe 
officer in command at any fire in said city, 
it shall be the duty of said corps, or any mem- 
ber or members thereof, by the direction of 
said officer in command at such fire, to level 
and destroy such building or buildings by 
the use of explosives, for the purpose of ar- 
resting the spread of such fire, and it shall 
be lawful for them to enter and take posses- 
sion of the same for such purposes. 

Explosives; depots for storage of. 

Sec. 753. The fire commissioner shall estab- 
lish in The City of New York, one or more de- 
pots for the storage and safekeeping of such 
explosives as may be required for the use of 
said corps, and may limit the quantity of 
any such explosives to be kept at any one of 
such depots. 

Palling down buildings to prevent 

spread of Are. 

Sec. 754. When any building or buildings 
In The City of New York shall be on fire, it 
shall be lawful for the fire commissioner to 
direct and order the same, or any other build- 
ing which he may deem hazardous, and like- 
ly to take fire, or to convey the fire to other 
buildings, to be pulled down or destroyed. 
Upon the application of any person interested 
in such building so pulled down or destroyed 
or its contents, to the supreme court, in and 
for the county or any adjoining county, in 
the judicial department within which such 
building is situated, it shall be its duty to 
issue a precept for a jury to inquire into and 
assess the damages which the owners of such 
building and all persons having an estate or 
interest therein or in the contents thereof, 
have respectively sustained by the pulling 
down or destruction of said building or its 
contents. Such precept shall be issued, di- 
rected, executed, returned and proceeded 
upon, and the proceedings thereon shall take 
effect, as nearly as may be, in such manner as 
is provided in the case of land taken for puc- 
lic purposes; and, the said inquiry and assess- 
ment having been confirmed by the court, the 
sums assessed by the jury shall be paid by 
The Citv of New York to the respective per- 


sons in whose favor the jury shall have as- 
sessed the same, in full satisfaction of all 
demands of such persons respectively, by rea- 
son of the pulling down or destruction of 
such building or its contents; and the court 
before whom such process shall be returnable 
shall have power to compel the attendance of 
Jurors and witnesses Upon any such assess- 
ment of damages. 

Idle persons, etc., may be removed 

from fires. 

Sec. 755. During the actual prevalence of 
any fire, it shall and may be lawful for the 
officers of the police and fire department to 
remove, or cause to be removed and kept 
away from the vicinity of such fire, all idle 
and suspicious persons, and all persons not 
fit to be employed or not actually and use- 
fully employed, in their judgment, in aiding 
the extinguishment of such fire or in the 
preservation of property in the vicinity there- 
of. 

Jurisdiction of fire department over 

harbor fires on vessels. 

Sec. 756. In case of fire occurring on any 
vessel in the port of New York or in or upon 
any dock, wharf, pier, warehouse, building 
or other structure bordering upon or ad- 
jacent to said port, full power and author- 
ity to direct and command the operation of 
extinguishing said fire and to take the 
necessary precautions to prevent communi- 
cation thereof to the shipping in said port 
or to the docks, wharves, piers, warehouses 
or other buildings or structures bordering 
upon or adjacent thereto, shall be vested 
in the fire department of the city of New 
York. The officers of said fire department in 
charge at the scene of any such fire shall 
have full power and authority to direct the 
operation of extinguishing the same and to 
take the necessary precautions to prevent 
the communication thereof to the shipping 
in said port, or to any docks, wharves, piers, 
warehouses or other buildings or structures 
bordering upon or adjacent thereto, and in 
the course of such operation may prohibit 
the approach to such flro or to a vessel, 
dock, wharf, pier, warehouse or other build- 
ing or structure in danger therefrom, of 
any tugboat or other vessel, or of any per- 
son; or may remove or cause to be removed 
and kept away from the vicinity of such fire 
all tugboats or other vessels, all idle and 
suspicious persons and all persons not fit 
to be employed or not actually and usefully 
employed in their judgment, in aiding the 
extinguishing of such fire, or in the preser- 
vation of property in the vicinity thereof. 
Any person who shall in any way obstruct 
the operations of said fire department in 
connection with any such fire, or who shall 
disobey any lawful command of the officers 
of said fire department in charge at the 
scene of such fire, or of the police in co- 
operating with them, shall forfeit or pay a 
fine of five hundred dollars. Provided that 
nothing in this section contained shall be 
construed to limit the authority of the mas- 
ter or officers of any such vessel on fire or 
in danger from fire, subject to the general 
authority granted herein of the fire depart- 
ment to control the operations in protection 
of the public interests. The words port of 
New York, wherever the same are mentioned 
or referred to in this section shall be deemed 
and taken to include all the waters of the 
North River and East River and the harbor 
embraced within or adjacent to or opposite 
the shores of the city of New York as con- 
stituted by this act.— Added by Laws of 1902, 
Chapter 553. 


TITLE 3. 

PREVENTION OF FIRES— EXPLOSIVES 
AND COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS. 

Hoistways, iron shutters, etc., to be 
closed. 

Sec. 761. All hoistways, well-holes, trap- 
doors, and iron shutters shall be closed at 
the completion of the business of each day by 
the occupant of the building having use or 
control of the same, and in case of a violation 
of this provision, such occupant having the 
use or control thereof shall forfeit and pay 
a penalty of fifty dollars for each and every 
neglect or omission so to do. And for anv 
accident or injury to life or limb, resulting 
directly or indirectly from any neglect or 
omission to properly comply with any of the 
requirements of this section, the person or 
persons culpable or negligent in respect 
thereto shall be liable to pay any officer, 
agent, or employe of said fire department in- 
jured, or whose life may be lost while in the 
discharge or performance of any duty imposed 
by said commissioner, or to the wife and 
children, or to the parents^'r to the broth- 
ers and sisters, being the surviving heirs-at- 
law of any deceased person thus having lost 
his life, a sum of money, in ca%e of injury 
to person, not less than one thousand dol- 
lars, and in case of death not less than five 
thousand dollars, such liability to be deter- 
mined and such sums recovered in an action 
to be instituted by any person injured, or the 
family or relatives of any person killed as 
aforesaid; and any or all persons for any fire, 
resulting from his or their wilful or culpable 
negligence or criminal intent or design, shall, 
in addition to the present provision of law 
for the punishment of persons convicted of 
arson, be liable in a civil action for the pay- 
ment of any and all damages to the person 
or property, the result of such fire, and also 
for the payment of all costs and expenses of 
said fire department incurred in and about 
the use of employes, apparatus, and materials 
in the extinguishment of any fire resulting 
from such cause, the amount of such costs 
and expenses to be fixed by said commission- 
er, and when collected shall be paid into the 
relief fund of said department herein creat- 
ed; and shall also be liable for injury to per- 
son or loss of life of any officer, agent, or 
employe of said fire department in the same 
manner and like extent, and to be sued for 
in like manner as in the preceding part of 
this section provided for. 

Fireworks and explosive compounds; 
mnnnfnctnre and sale thereof. 

Sec. 764. No fireworks, detonating works, 
cartridges, powder train, percussion caps, col- 
lodion, nitrate of soda, nitrate of silver, 
ether, phosphorus, matches, or explosive 
compounds, or esplosive substances shall 
hereafter bo manufactured in the city, 
except at such places, in such manner, and 
in such quantities as shall be determined 
by the said commissioner in the exercise 
of his discretion, under a permit by 
him granted therefor, and subject to be 
revoked at any time by said commissioner. 
Fireworks, consisting of Chinese cracker*, 
rockets, blue lights, candles, colored pots, 
lance-wheels, and other works of brilliant- 
colored fires, may be kept upon sale inter- 
vening the tenth day of June and the tenth 
day of July in each year, by retail dealers, 
under such reasonable regulations as said 
commissioner may prescribe, under a permit, 
issued therefor. 

Id.; continued. 

Sec. 766. No person shall sell at rdtail or 
give away any kerosene, or other product of 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


81 


petroleum, or any similar oil to be used for 
heating or illuminating purposes, without 
first obtaining a license therefor from the fire 
commissioner, under such rules and regula- 
tions as he may prescribe, which license 
shall be for the term of one year and shall 
not be transferable, and for every such li- 
cense and for every renewal of the same the 
said' commissioner shall demand and receive 
the sum of ten dollars. Said license shall be 
posted in a conspicuous place in the store of 
the person or persons to whom the same is 
issued and may be revoked for cause by said 
commissioner. Any person who shall sell 
any of the compounds above mentioned In 
this or the last section, without first obtain- 
ing a license therefor, shall forfeit and pay 
the sum of twenty-five dollars. 

Criminal liability if death results 

from violation of foregoing rules. 

Sec. 767. In ease any person is burned by 
the explosion of any compound, the sale of 
which is prohibited by any law or ordinance, 
or which has not been subjected to sanitary 
survey, or licensed as therein provided, and 
death ensues therefrom, the person found , 
guilty of selling the same shall be deemed 
guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction, shall 
be punishe.d by a fine of not less than 
one thousand dollars, nor more than five 
thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the 
state prison for a term not less than one year 
nor more than five years; and in case of a 
bodily injury the party injured may 
maintain an action for damages against 
the party violating the provisions of 
this title. Any dealer who shall 
present and deliver for sanitary survey a 
•ample of oil different from, and which does 
not represent the quality of oil actually kept 
by him or her for sale, and not taken from the 
actual stock being offered for sale, and of the 
same quality therewith, shall forfeit and pay 
the sum of fifty dollars. If any fire insur- 
ance company, organized under the laws of 
this ptate, or any insurance company of any 
other state, or any foreign insurance com- 
pany authorized to do the business of in- 
surance in this state, shall in-dorse upon any 
policy issued by them the right or privilege 
to keep, deal in, give away, sell or use any ar- 
ticle or compound of a combustible or explo- 
sive character, the sale of which is made un- 
lawful, or shall cause or permit such in- 
dorsement to be made by others upon their 
policies of insurance, they shall for each and 
every such offense forfeit and pay a fine of 
five hundred dollars. 

Storage of certain chemicals rega- 
in ted. 

Sec. 769. No quantity of the following- 
named ehemieals and combustible materials 
greater than is hereafter enumerated shall 
be stored or kept in. or upon any one build- 
ing within the city, namely: hemp or flax, un- 
baled, two thousand pounds in the whole; 
varnish, twenty barrels in the whole; aleo- 
hol, pure spirits, camphene, burning fluid, 
five barrels in the whole; nnslaked lime, ten 
barrels; vitriol, five earboys in the whole; loose 
■wood shavings, one hundred pounds; sulphur, 
one thousand pounds; manufactured matches, 
five hundred pounds; chlorate of potash, 
chlorate of soda and other chlorates, salt- 
peter, nitrate of soda and other nitrates, flVe 
hundred pounds in the whole; collodion, 
ether, phosphorus, fifty pounds in the 
whole; cartridges, percussion caps, powder 
train, sodium peroxide, one hundred pounds 
in the whole; aquafortis, muriatic acid and 
nitrate acid, not exceeding orfe thousand 
pounds in the whole; tar, pitch, rosin and 
turpentine, one hundred barrels in the whole, 
except at such places in such manner and in 


such quantities as shall be determined by 
the fire commissioner in the exercise of his 
discretion, under a permit by him granted 
therefor; zinc dust, calc’ium carbide and 
metallic sodium shall be limited to one hun- 
dred pounds in the whole, and shall not be 
stored or kept in localities below' the grade 
floor of any building. The commissioner shall 
prepare or cause to be prepared a list which 
shall specifically name other chemicals and 
other compounds or substances, not else- 
where In this section named and limited, 
which he may ascertain to be liable to ignite 
or to give off Inflammable gases or to gener- 
ate excessive heat when In contact with wa- 
ter or moisture. Such list of chemicals, 
compounds and substances shall be added to 
from time to time and designated and classed 
in the regulations published by the commis- 
sioner as ‘‘compounds and substances made 
dangerous by contact -with water or moist- 
ure,” and such chemicals and other com- 
pounds and substances so specially desig- 
nated and clashed in such regulations shall 
not be stored or kept in localities below 
the grade floor of any building, provided, 
however, that in determining the quanti- 
ties of said materials and other substances 
for the storage or keeping of which within 
the city an application for a permit shall 
be made, full consideration shall be given 
to the character of such materials and sub- 
stances and to the conditions existing in 
and about the place or building mentioned 
In the application, and provided that none 
of the above mentioned articles shall be 
stored or kept on sale or for business pur- 
poses In any building occupied in whole or 
in part as a dwelling unless by special per- 
mit- from the commissioner, which permit 
shall state the quantity that can be so stored 
or kept in such building. If any decision 
of the fire commissioner shall be deemed to 
work an injury to the applicaht or to the 
public, or shall involve a menace to the pub- 
lic safety, the final decision on such appli- 
cation for permit, upon the request of either 
the fire commissioner or of the applicant for 
a permit, or fihe owner of or a tenant in 
the building where the goods are stored 
or proposed to be stored, or of a tenant In 
an adjoining building or of the owner of an 
adjoining building, shall be referred to a 
committee of official arbitrators consisting 
of the fire commissioner or his representa- 
tive, the president of the New York Board 
of Trade and Transportation, or his repre- 
sentative, and the chairman of the New 
York section of the American Chemical so- 
ciety, or hie representative, and the deci- 
sion of such arbitrators shall be binding 
upon all parties interested in an applica- 
tion for a permit and upon all owners and 
tenants of any building, the owner or any 
tenant whereof shall have made application 
for arbitration as herein provided. The ma- 
jority vote of said arbitrators shall be nec- 
essary to the determination of any issue 
referred to them. The commissioner shall 
prepare and publish such regulations as in 
his judgment may be necessary to con- 
trol the storage and handling of the ma- 
terials specified in this section, and he shall 
from time to time add to such list and bring 
under such regulations such other materials 
as the public safety may require. He shall 
give public notice of such additions by pub- 
lication of the same in the Ctfy Record and 
by circular notice to such dealers and ware- 
house men as the reeords of his department 
may show to have been granted a permit to 
handle or store such class or character of 
goods. 

(See Appendix. Sections changed by Board 
of Aldermen.) 


Right to enter buildings, ete., for pur- 
poses of examination. 

Sec. 771. The commissioner and his offi- 
cers or agents, under the direction of the 
commissioner, or either of them, are hereby 
empowered at any and all times to enter 
into and examine all buildings, dw'elling 
j houses, livery and other stables, hay boats, 
or vessels, and places where any merchan- 
dise, gunpowder, hemp, flax, tow, hay, rushes, 
firewood, boards, shingles, shavings, or other 
combustible materials may be lodged, for the 
purpose of ascertaining all violations of any 
law or ordinance, aud also the places where 
ashes may be deposited, and upon finding 
that any of them are defective or dangerous, 
or that a violation of any law or ordinance 
exists therein, may deliver a written or 
printed notice, containing a copy of the pro- 
visions in reference thereto, and notice of 
any violation thereof, and notice to remove, 
amend, or secure the same within a period 
to be fixed therein. And in case of neglect 
| or refusal on the part of such occupant or 
| of the possessor of such combustible mate- 
I rials, or any of them, so to remove, amend, 
or secure the came within the time 
and in the manner directed by the said 
commissioner in such notice, the party of- 
fending shall forfeit and pay, in addition to 
any penalty otherwise imposed, the mm of 
twenty-five dollars, and the further sum of 
five dollars for every day's neglect to re- 
move, amend, or secure the same after being 
so notified. All the expenses of any removal, 
alteration or amendment as aforesaid, shall 
J be paid in the first instance by the occu- 
j pant, but shall be chargeable against the 
owner of such dwelling-house or other build- 
ing, and shall be deducted from the rent of 
the same, unless such expense be rendered 
necessary by the act or default of such oc- 
cupant, -or unless there be a special agree- 
ment to the contrary between the parties. 

Information to be famished by hold- 
ers of permits. 

Sec. 772. All persons or corporations who 
shall be required to have and obtain per- 
mits shall furnish such information as may 
be required, touching the condition of any 
building and the business therein proposed 
to be conducted, preliminary to ’obtaining 
such permits. 

TITLE 4. 

FIRE MARSHALS AND INVESTIGATION 
OF ORIGIN OF FIRES. 
Investigation of Ares, ete. 

Sec. 779. The fire commissioner is hereby 
authorized to appoint and remove a fire mar- 
shal for the boroughs of Manhattan, The 
Bronx and Richmond, and a fire marshal 
to be seated in Brooklyn and to exercise 
his powers within the boroughs of Brook- 
lyn and Queens. Said fire marshals shall 
be members of the uniformed force of the 
fire department of The City of New York, 
and within such boroughs, respectively, to 
which they may be assigned, shall have and 
possess all the powers heretofore conferred 
by law upon the fire marshal of the cor- 
poration heretofore known as the mayor, 
aldermen and commonalty of the city of New 
York. The salary of each of said fire mar- 
shals shall be three thousand dollars a year. 
"Rhe fire commissioner, himself or by said 
marshals, is hereby authorized and empow- 
ered to investigate, examine and inquire into 
the origin, details and management of fljes 
in the city, and also of any supposed cases 
of violations of any of the provisions of 
this chapter, or of any of the several regu- 
lations, orders or special directions issued 


82 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF STRW YORK. 


by the fire commissioner for the purpose of 
the discovery of any delinquency in the 
non-performance of duty or violation of dis- 
cipline on the part of any officer, agent or 
employe of said fire department, or any sup- 
posed cases of arson or incendiarism, which 
may be brought to his notice; and said fire 
commissioner in and about any examination, 
investigation or inquiry before him or his 
marshals, touching any matter or thing 
therewith connected, may subpoena and com- 
pel the attendance of any person or persons, 
and the production of any books, papers, 
archives or documents in his or their pos- 
session, .or under his or their control, in 
the judgment of the fire commissioner con- 
nected with and necessary to such examina- 
tion, investigation or inquiry, before him 
or his marshals, at the time and place there- 
in named; and for tfie purpose aforesaid, 
the corporation counsel may, at any time, ob- 
tain to be issued subpoenas out of the su- 
preme court, attested under the name of a 
justice of said court, in like form and with 
like effect as though issued by said justice 
in any action pending in a court of record, 
and said subpoena may be served, and proof 
of such service may be made, in the same 
manner as now by law provided for the serv- 
ice of subpoenas out of said court; and upon 
proof of service and proof of non-compliance, 
failure to attend and testify on the part of 
any person or persons, as required by said 
subpoena, or failure or refusal on the part 
of any person or persons to produce any such 
books, papers, archives, or documents, in his 
or their possession, or under his or their 
control, or a failure or refusal on his or 
their part to answer any question put to him 
or them, and pertinent thereto, upon any ex- 
amination, inquiry, or investigation as afore- 
said, application may be made before any 
justice of said court, who shall, in case he 
shall decide such question pertinent and 
proper to be answered, thereupon cause to 
be arrested, and may punish as for a con- 
tempt of the orders of said court, tlio per- 
son or persons named in said subpoena, and 
in such case the laws, rules, and proceedings 
relating to punishment for contempts, and 
usual in said hourt, or before any justice 
thereof, shall be applicable thereto. Said 
commissioner and fire marshals, in conduct- 
ing any examination or inquiry as aforesaid, 
are hereby authorized to administer any oath 
or affirmation in the matter, and any false 
swearing under said oath or affirmation thus 
administered shall be perjury, and punish- 
able as such in such manner as now pro 
vided under the laws applicable thereto; and 
said examination or investigation may be 
continued and adjourned by the said com- 
missioner or fire marshal conducting the 
same, from time to time, and at such time 
and place as shall be designated, and any 
person subpoenaed as aforesaid shall at- 
tend and testify upon said adjourned 
day or days, and at the time and place 
designated, and of which they shall have 
been notified, as though the same had 
been named in said subpoena, and with 
like effect as to any failure to appear and 
answer under the requirements therein con- 
tained; provided, that any testimony or evi- 
dence taken as aforesaid shall be for the in- 
formation and instruction of said fire com- 
missioner in the discharge of his duties, and 
in the prevention of future fires, and the pro- 
tection of property, and shall be carefully 
kept in the archives and possession of said 
fire department, and shall in no manner be 
used in any criminal proceeding or action, 
but may be placed before any grand jury 
in said City of New York. Such investiga- 
tions in relation to the subject matter here- 


inabove defined within the boroughs of Brook- 
lyn and Queens, shall be carried on by the 
deputy commissioner and fire marshal seated 
in the borough of Brooklyn, under the direc- 
tion of said lire commissioner. 

Fire marshals mny enter hnildings to 
examine them. 

Sec. 780. It shall be the duty of a marshal 
or his officers and agents, when authorized 
by him in writing so to do, to enter into any 
building or premises within said city for 
the purpose of examining, or causing to be 
examined, the stoves and pipes thereto, 
ranges, furnaces and heating apparatus of 
every kind whatsoever, including the chim- 
neys, flues and pipes with which the same 
may be connected, engine rooms, boilers, 
ovens, kettles, and also all chemical appara- 
tus or other things which in his opinion may 
be dangerous in causing or promoting fires, 
or dangerous to the firemen or occupants in 
case of fire; and upon finding any of them 
defective or dangerous, or in any manner 
exposed or liable to fire from any cause, he 
shall report the same to the commissioner, 
who may thereupon issue orders or special 
directions, either printed or written, direct- 
ing the owner or occupant to alter, remove, 
or remedy the same in such manner and 
within such reasonable time as may be 
necessary, and in respect thereto may author- 
ize and direct the use of such materials and 
appliances as shall be deemed proper and 
necessary, and in case of neglect or refusal 
so to do within the time prescribed by such 
orders or directions, such fire marshal, un- 
der the direction of said commissioner, shall 
cause said alteration, removal or other neces- 
sary act or work to be done and the ex- 
pense thereof shall be charged to the party 
so offending, to be sued for and recovered 
in the manner herein provided for the re- 
covery of fines and penalties under this chap- 
ter. And in addition thereto the party so 
offending shall forfeit the sum of fifty dol- 
lars, to be recovered in said action or in an 
action brought therefor by the fire com- 
missioner. 

Id.; to trace the enirne of lirca; arrest of 

suspected persons*. 

S«c. 781. It shall be the duty of a fire mar- 
shal to examine into the cause, circum- 
stances, and origin of fires occurring in said 
city, by which any building, vessels, vehicles, 
or any valuable personal property shall be 
accidentally or unlawfully burned, destroyed, 
lost or damaged, wholly or partially; and to 
especially inquire and examine whether the 
fire was the result of carelessness or the act 
of an incendiary. Such fire marshal shall take 
the testimony, on oath, of all persons sup- 
posed to be cognizant of any fact or to have 
means of knowledge in relation to the mat- 
ters herein required to be examined and in- 
quired into, and cause the same to be reduced 
to writing, verified and transmitted to the 
' fire commissioner with his report in writing, 
embodying his opinion and conclusons in re- 
I letion to the matter investigated. Such fire 
marshal shall report in writing to the fire 
department, to the police department, to the 
district attorney, to the New York board of 
fire underwriters, to the owners of property, 
or other persons interested in the subject 
matter of investigation, any facts and circum- 
stances which he may have ascertained by 
1 such inquiries and investigations which shall, 
in his opinion, require attention from or by 
cither of said departments, officers or persons, 
and it shall be the duty of such fire marshal 
whenever he shall be of opinion that there is 
evidence sufficient to charge any person with 
the crime of arson, to cause such person to 
be arrested and charged with such offense, 
and furnish to the district attorney all the 


evidences of guilt, with the names of wit- 
nesses, and all the information obtained by 
him, including a copy of all pertinent and 
material testimony taken in the case; and he 
shall specially report to the fire commis- 
sioner, as often as such commissioner shall 
require, his proceedings, and the progress 
made in all prosecutions for arson, and the 
result of all cases which are finally disposed 
of. 

Id.* may compel attendance of wit- 
nesses. 

Sec. 782. A fire marshal shall have power to 
issue a notice in the nature of a subpoena, in 
such form, and subscribed in such manner as 
the fire commissioner shall prescribe, to com- 
pel the attendance of any person as a wit- 
ness before him, to testify in relation to any 
matter which is, by the pfovisions of this 
title, a subject of inquiry and investigation 
by the said marshal. The said marshal shall 
be, and hereby is authorized to administer 
and verify oaths and affirmations to persona 
appearing as witnesses before him; and false 
swearing in any matter or proceeding afore- 
said shall be deemed perjury and shall be 
punishable as such. Upon the presentation 
of satisfactory proof of due service of any 
such notice in the nature of a subpoena upon 
any such witness, and of a failure by such 
witness to obey the same, it shall be the 
duty of the fire commissioner to make an 
order that the said witness be arrested and 
brought before eaid marshal, to testify what 
such witness may know in relation to the 
subject matter of inquiry. Such order may 
be executed by any member of the police 
force, by arresting and bringing such wit- 
ness before the said marshal, but such wit- 
ness shall not be detained longer than is 
necessary to take such testimony. The fire 
marshals shall have authority at all times 
of the day or night, in performance of the 
duties imposed by the provisions of this title, 
to enter upon and examine any building or 
premises, when any fire shall have occurred, 
and the building and premises adjoining and 
near to that in which the fire occurred. 

Id.* commissioner may supervise in- 
vestigations l»y. 

Sec. 783. It shall be the duty of the fire com- 
missioner to supervise and direct, whenever 
he shall be of opinion that the public interest 
will be subserved thereby, the investigations, 
examinations, and proceedings of said mar- 
shals, and make all needful and proper rules 
and regulations in relation to the duties of 
the office, and the manner of performing the 
same. 

TITLE 5. 

RELIEF FUND AND PENSIONS. 

Of what fnnd consists; officers and in- 
vestment. 

Sec. 789. The New York fire department 
relief fund shall consist of: 

1. The capital, interest, income, dividends, 
cash deposits, securities and credits formerly 
or now belonging to eaid funds in any of the 
municipal and public corporations, or parts 
thereof, hereby consolidated into The City 
of New York. 

2. All forfeitures and fines imposed by the 
fire commissioner, from time to time, upon 
any member or members of the fire depart- 
ment force by way of discipline. 

3. All rewards, in money, fees, gifts, tes- 
timonials, and emoluments that may be paid 
or given for account of extraordinary serv- 
ices by any member of the fire department 
force, except such as have been or shall be 
allowed by the fire commissioner, to be re- 
tained by said member or members, and such 
as have been or shall be given to endow a 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


63 


medal or other permanent or competitive rer 
ward. 

4. All proceeds of suits for penalties, under 
title three of this chapter, and all license 
fees payable under the same which may bo 
paid in from or collected in the boroughs of 
Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx, and forty- 
five per centum of such proceeds of suits for 
penalties and license fees as may be paid in 
from or collected in the boroughs of Queens 
and Richmond. 

5. All proceeds of sales of condemned 
horses and other personal property in use by 
said department. 

6. All moneys, pay, compensation or salary, 
or any part thereof forfeited, deducted or 
withheld from any member or members of the 
fire department force, for or on account of 
absence from duty, to be paid monthly to 
the treasurer or the said relief fund, by the 
comptroller of The City of New York, and 
the fire commissioner is authorized and em- 
powered, in his discretion, to deduct and 
withhold pay, salary or compensation from 
any member or members of said force, for or 
on account of absence from duty, except when 
such absence shall be caused by sickness or 
disability, for which leave of absence shall 
have been granted, in accordance with the 
rules of said department. 

7. Ten per centum annually of all excise 
moneys or license fees belonging to The City 
of New York, as constituted by this act, and 
derived or received by any commissioner 
of excise or public officer, from the grant- 
ing of licenses, or permission to sell strong 
or spirituous liquors, ale, wine or beer, 
or of any moneys paid for taxes upon the 
business of trafficking in or selling or deal- 
ing in strong or spirituous liquors, ale. wine 
or beer in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brook- 
lyn and The Bronx under the provisions of 
any law of this state authorizing the grant- 
ing of any such license or permission; and 
four and one-half per centum annually of 
such excise moneys or license fees which are 
likewise derived or received for the granting 
of licenses or permission to sell strong or 
spirituous liquors, ale, wine or beer in the 
boroughs of Queens and Richmond; the said 
ten per centum and the said four and one- 
half per centum thereof to be paid by the 
comptroller of said city, who is hereby au- 
thorized and required to pay the same to the 
treasurer of the said relief fund, for the 
benefit thereof, without any action or author- 
ity of or from the board of estimate and 
apportionment, such sum to amount in each 
and every year to not more than one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars, nor to ex- 
ceed such an amount, if any, as may be re- 
quired at the end of any fiscal year to bring 
the surplus in such relief fund over and 
above all charges then existing against the 
same up to the sum of two hundred thousand 
dollars. The commissioner of the fire de- 
partment of The City of New York is hereby 
constituted and declared to be the trustee 
of the New York fire department relief fund, 
shall receive all moneys applicable to the 
same and deposit the same, as such trustee, 
to the credit of such relief fund, in banks or 
trust companies to be selected by him, and 
continue to receive and deposit the funds ap- 
plicable to the same, as received, to the 
credit of said fund, or to invest the same in 
bond and mortgage on improved property 
worth twice the amount loaned, or in public 
stocks, as said trustee may deem most ad- 
vantageous for the object of such fund, and 
said trustee is empowered to make all neces- 
sary contracts, and to take all necessary 
remedies in the premises. The treasurer of 
said fund shall give a bond, with one or 
more sureties, in the sum of one hundred 


thousand dollars, for the faithful perform- 
ance of his duties, said bond to be approved 
by the comptroller and filed in his office. 
And the said trustee for and on behalf of 
the uses and purposes of said fund, shall be 
entitled to receive, and there shall be paid 
to him all duties, taxes, allowances, fines, 
penalties and fees to which the fire depart- 
ment of The City of New York, as at any 
time heretofore established, has been or is 
now entitled, except as in this act otherwise 
specially provided, and the said trustee may 
take, by gift, grant, devise or bequest, any 
money, real or personal property, right of 
property or oXher valuable thing the annual 
income of which shall not exceed thirty 
thousand dollars in the whole; and in any 
year, when the condition of the said relief 
fund shall render it, in the judgment 
of the said trustee, necessary, he 
may receive from the board of es- 
timate and apportionment of The City of 
New York, a sum not exceeding ten 
thousand dollars, to be included in the 
annual estimate of^he fire commissioner and 
drawn and collected by him in like manner 
as the other moneys applicable to his ex- 
penses; and such amounts so obtained shall, 
in like manner, be paid to and applied by the 
treasurer to the uses of said fund, by deposit 
or investment as hereinbefore provided, as 
the trustee thereof shall direct; provided, 
that the sum of two hundred thousand dol- 
lars, which may be received and accumulated 
under the provisions of this title, shall be 
reserved and retained as a permanent fund, 
the annual income of which may be made 
available for the uses and purposes of said 
relief fund. 

8. On or before the first day of February 
of each year, the trustee shall make a veri- 
fied report to the mayor of his proceedings 
as such trustee, containing a statement of 
all receipts and disbursements on account of 
said fund, together with the names and resi- 
dences of each beneficiary and the amounts 
paid to such beneficiary for or on account of 
said fund. There shall be an auditing com- 
mittee consisting of three members, to be 
appointed by the mayor, as follows: two 
members to be selected from among the 
officers and members of the uniformed force 
of the fire department, and one member to 
be selected from the retired members of the 
fire department. It shall be the duty of this 
committee, on or before the first day of March 
in each year, to examine the condition of 
said relief fund and to audit the account of 
the said trustee. 

9. There shall be paid to the treasurers of 
the exempt or veteran volunteer firemen’s 
associations existing in the borough of 
Queens on the first day of January, nineteen 
hundred and one, quarterly, by the comptrol- 
ler of The City of New York, for the benefit 
of said associations and without any action 
or authority of or from the board of estimate 
and apportionment: 

a. Forty-five per centum annually of all 
proceeds of suits for penalties under title 
three of this chapter, which may be collect- 
ed or paid in from the borough of Qdeens, 
and of all license fees payable under the 
same which may be collected or paid in from 
the borough of Queens. 

b. Four and one-half per centum annually 
of all excise moneys or license fees belong- 
ing to The City of New York, as constituted 
by this act, and derived or received by any 
commissioner of excise or public officer from 
the granting of licenses or permission to 
sell strong or spirituous liquors, ale, wine or 
beer, in the borough of Queens, under the 
provisions of any law of this state, authoriz- 


ing the granting of any such licenses or per- 
mission. 

Said moneys shall bo apportioned by said 
comptroller among all such exempt or veter- 
an volunteer firemen’s associations, in pro- 
portion to the actual bona fide membership 
of each such association on the first day of 
January next preceding the time when such 
apportionment is made. In determining the 
membership of such associations, only ex- 
empt or honorably discharged volunteer fire- 
men shall be considered as members. 

10. There shall be paid to the treasurers 
of the exempt or veteran volunteer firemen's 
associations existing In the borough of Rich 
mond on the first day of January, nineteen 
hundred and one, quarterly, by the comptrol- 
ler of The City of New York for the benefit 
of said associations and without any action 
or authority of or from tke board of estimate 
and apportionment. 

a. Forty-five per centum annually of all 
proceeds of suits for penalties under title 
three of this chapter, which may be collect- 
ed or paid in from the borough of Richmond, 
and of all license fees payable under the 
same which may be collected or paid In from 
the borough of Richmond. 

b. Four and one-half per centum annually 
of all excise moneys or license fees belonging 
to The City of New York, as constituted by 
this act, and derived or received by any com- 
missioner of excise or public officer from the 
granting of license or permission to sell 
strong or spirituous liquors, ale, wino or 
beer in the borough of Richmond, under the 
provisions of any law of this state, author- 
izing the granting of any such licenses or 
permission. 

Said moneys shall be apportioned by s^Id 
comptroller among all such exempt or veter- 
an volunteer firemen’s associations in propor- 
tion to the actual bona fide membership of 
each such association on the first day of 
January next preceding the time when such 
apportionment is made. In determining the 
membership of such associations, only ex- 
empt or honorably discharged volunteer fire- 
men shall be considered as members. 

11. There shall be paid to the treasurer of 
the firemen’s association of the state of New 
York, who shall pay -over the same to the 
treasurer of the volunteer firemen’s home as- 
sociation at Hudson, New York, quarterly, 
by the comptroller of The City of New York 
without any action or authority of or from 
the board of estimate and apportionment.: 

a. Ten per centum annually of all pro- 
ceeds of suits for penalties under title three 
of this chapter which may bo collected or 
paid in from the boroughs of Queens and 
Richmond, and of all license fees payable 
under the same which may be collected or 
paid in from the boroughs of. Queens and 
Richmond. 

b. One per centum annually of all excise 
moneys or license fees belonging to The 
City of New York, as constituted by this 
act, and derived or received by any commis- 
sioner of excise or public officer from the 
granting of licenses or permission to sell 
strong or spirituous liquors, ale, wine or 
beer In the boroughs of Queens and Rich- 
mond, under the provisions of any law of 
this state, authorizing the granting of any 
such licenses or permission. 

Retiring; members oi fire deportment: 

pensions, etc. 

Sec. 790. The fire commissioner shall have 
power to retire from all service in the said 
fire department., or to relieve from service 
at fires, any officer or member of the uni- 
formed force of said departoinitfc, who may. 


84 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


upon an examination by the medical officers, 
ordered by the said fire commissioner, be 
found to be disqualified, physically or men- 
tally, for the performance of his duties; 
and the said officer or member so retired 
from service shall receive from said relief 
fund an annual allowance as pension in case 
of total disqualification for service, or as 
compensation for limited service in case of 
partial disability; in every case, the said fire 
commissioner is to determine the circum- 
stances thereof, and said pension or allow- 
ance so allowed is to be in lieu of any salary 
received by such officer or member at the 
date of his being so relieved or retired from 
fire duty in said department, and the said de- 
partment shall not be held liable for the 
payment of any claim or demand for services 
thereafter rendered, and the amount of such 
pension or allowance shall be determined 
upon the following conditions: In case of 
total permanent disability, at any time, 
caused in or induced by the actual perform- 
ance of the duties of his position, or which 
may occur after ten years’ active and con- 
tinuous service in the said fire department, 
the amount of annual pension to b’e allowed 
shall be one-half of the annual compensa- 
tion allowed such officer or member as sal- 
ary at the date of his retirement from the 
service, or such less sum in proportion to the 
number of officers and members so retired 
as the condition of the fund will warrant. 
But should permanent disability caused by 
injuries received In the active discharge of 
bis duties disqualify him only from perform- 
ing active duty in the uniformed force, ho 
shall be employed at the salary received 
when such disability occurred in some posi- 
tion in the department not requiring active 
service as a fireman. In case of total perma- 
nent disability not caused in or Induced by 
the actual performance of the duties of his 
position, or which shall have occurred be- 
fore the expiration of ten years’ active and 
continuous service in the said fire depart- 
ment, the amount of annual pension to be 
allowed shall be one-third of the annual 
compensation allowed such officer or member 
as salary at the date of his retirement from 
the service, or in proportion to the number 
of officers ar.d members so retired, as the 
condition of the fund will warrant. In case 
of partial permanent disability, caused in or 
induced by the actual performance of the 
duties of his position, or which may occur 
after ten years’ active and continuous service 
in the said fire department, the officer or 
member so disabled shall be relieved from 
active service at fires, but shall remain a 
member of the uniformed service, subject <o 
the rules governing said force, and to the 
performance of such light duties as the med- 
ical officer of the said fire department may 
certify him to be qualified to per- 
form; yid the annual allowance to 
be paid such member or officer shall 
be one-ha'f of the annual compensation 
allowed all salary at the dwe of his being 
so relieved, or such less sum, in proportion 
to the number of officers and members so 
retired, as the condition of the fund will 
warrant. In case of partial disability, not 
caused or induoed by the actual perform- 
ance of the duties of his position, or which 
may occur before ten years’ active and con- 
tinuous service in the said fire department, 
the officer or member so disabled shall be 
relieved from active service at fires, but 
shall remain a member of the uniformed 
force, 'subject to the rules governing said 
force, and to the performance of such light 
duties as the medical officer of said depart- 
ment may certify him to be qualified to per- 
form, and the annual allowance to be paid 


to such officer or member shall not exceed 
one-third of the annual compensation allowed 
as salary at the date of his being so re- 
lieved, or such less sum as the fire commis- 
sioner may, in his discretion, determine, or 
as the condition of the fund will warrant. Any 
officer or member of the uniformed force o’ 
the said fire department of The City of New 
Yo^k, who has or shall have performed dutv 
therein for a period of twenty years or up- 
wards, shall upon his own application, in 
writing, or upon a certificate of the board of 
medical officers showing that such member 
is permanently disabled, physically or men- 
tally, so as to be unfit for duty, be retired 
and dismissed from said force and service, 
and placed on the roll of the relief or pen- 
sion fund, and awarded and granted, to be 
paid from the said relief or pension fund, an 
annual pension during his lifetime of a sum 
not less than one-half the full salary or com- 
pensation of such member so retired. The 
pensions granted under this section shall be 
for the natural life of the pensioner, a-nd 
shall not be revoked, repealed or diminished: 
provided, however, that no member of either 
of the uniformed fire departments by this 
act consolidated, having a right to retire on 
pension at the time this act takes effect, 
shall be deprived of such right by reason of 
his remaining a member of said fire depart- 
ment, or of anything in this act contained. 

Trustee of relief fund; w lien to pay 

pensions. 

Sec. 791. The trustee of the relief fund is 
authorized and empowered, from time to 
time, to pay a pension out of said relief fund 
to the widow, child or children or dependent 
parent or parents of any deceased officer or 
member of the uniformed force of the said 
fire department, if the death of such officer 
or member occur during his service in the 
said uniformed force, or after he was re- 
tired from service in said uniformed 1 force; 
provided, that the amount of any such pen- 
sion to be paid by the said trustee to each 
of the several representatives of such officer 
or member as aforesaid (in case there shall 
be more than one), may be, from time to 
time, determined by the said trustee accord- 
ing to the circumstances of each case, and 
that such pension may be or^red to cease 
and terminate at any time if, in the opin- 
ion of the trustee, the circumstances should 
warrant the same; and further provided, 
that not more than three hundred dol- 
lars shall be paid in any one year 
to the representative or representatives 
of such officer or member, and that no part 
of such sum shall be paid to any such widow 
who shall marry again, after her remarriage, 
or to any child after it shall have reached 
the age of sixteen years. In case any officer 
or member of the uniformed force of said 
department is hereafter killed while actual- 
ly engaged in the performance of duty, or if 
death ensues as the immediate effect of in- 
juries so received the trustee of said relief 
fund shall have the power to award to the 
widow of such officer or member an annual 
allowance as a pension, to be paid out of 
the said relief fund, in an amount not to 
exceed one-half of the salary or compensa- 
tion of such officer or member at the date 
of his decease. If such officer or member 
dying leaves no widow surviving him, but 
leaves a child or children, under the age 
of eighteen years, or dependent parent or 
parents, the said trustee shall have the pow- 
er to award to the legal guardian of such 
child or children, or dependent parent or 
parents, for its or their support and main- 
tenance, an annual allowance out of said 
relief fund, in amount not to exceed one-half 
of the salary or allowance of such officer or 


member at the darte of the decease. The 
amount of such annual allowance to any 
widow shall not exceed the sum of one thou- 
sand dollars, and shall cease upon her death 
or remarriage, or if she shall have been 
guilty of conduct which, in the opinion of 
said trustee, renders further payment in- 
expedient. The amount of such annual al- 
lowance to any one such child, or dependent 
parent or parents, shall not exceed the sum 
of five hundred dollars, and in every case 
such payment shall cease upon the death 
or marriage of such child, or upon its reach- 
ing the age of eighteen years. If such pay- 
ment to the widow of any such officer or 
member shall cease by reason of her death, 
remarriage or misconduct, the said trustee 
shall have power to make payments to the 
child or children or dependent parent or par- 
ents of Such officer or member, if any, as 
though he had died without leaving a widow 
surviving him. The widows and orphans 
and retired members of the Brooklyn fire 
department, or of any other fire department 
of any of the municipal and public corpora- 
tions or parts thereof hereby consolidated, 
shall be entitled to receive from the fire de- 
partment pension fund herein created the 
amounts which they would respectively have 
been legally entitled to receive on the thirty- 
first day of December, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-seven, from any fire department pen- 
sion or relief fund heretofore existing in any 
of said municipal corporations or parts 
thereof. 

Life insurance fund. 

Sec. 792. The life insurance fund shall con- 
sist of ^11 moneys that are now to the credit 
of the New York fire department life insur- 
ance fund, and the Brooklyn fire department 
widows’ and orphans’ relief fund; and all 
persons who have paid into the said re- 
spective funds, and who shall continue to pay 
into the life Insurance fund, shall receive 
the benefits of said fund as provided in this 
chapter. There shall be deducted from 
the monthly pay of each officer and fireman 
of said department, and from the monthly 
pension of retired members of said depart- 
ment, and from the pay of such other em- 
ployes of said department as shall hereto- 
fore have availed themselves of this pro- 
vision until, as hereinafter provided, the 
amount of said fund shall equal the sum of 
ten thousand dollars, the monthly sum of 
one. dollar, which shall be received and de- 
posited by the treasurer of the relief fund 
to the credit of the New York fire depart- 
ment life insurance fund, in a bank or trust 
company to be selected by him and to con- 
tinue to receive and deposit the funds ap- 
plicable to the same to the credi't of said 
fund. The said treasurer shall make a semi- 
annual report verified by him of the condi- 
tion of said fund containing a statement 
of all receipts and disbursements for or on 
account of said fund, together with names of 
all beneficiaries and the amount paid to each, 
and file said report in the office of the 
comptroller. When the amount of such fund 
shall equal the sum of ten thousand dol- 
lars, assessment shall only be made to 
maintain said fund at the said sum of ten 
thousand dollars. In case of the death of 
airy member or employe of said department 
in the service thereof, who has availed him- 
self of this provision, or of any pensioned 
or retired member of said department, and 
so contributing, there shall be -paid to the 
widow, or, if there be no widow, then to 
the legal representatives of such deceased 
member, or employe, or pensioned and re- 
tired member, the sum of one thousand dol- 
lars out of the moneys so assessed; and in 
case, by reason of the number of deaths. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NfftV YORK. 


85 


the aggregate amount of money so provid- 
ed to be assessed and collected should 
prove Inadequate to make such payment, 
then the assessment may, fn the discretion 
of said trustee, be increased to not exceed- 
ing the sum of two dollars in each month’s 
pay or each month’s pension of pensioned 
and retired members of said department. 
None but members of the uniformed force 
shall hereafter be eligible to membership 
In this fund. If, in any year, owing to an 
excessive mortality in the uniformed force, 
the condition of said life insurance fund 
shall render it, in the judgment of the said 
trustee, necessary, a sum not exceeding five 
thousand dollars may be transferred and paid 
over from the said relief fund to the said 
life insurance fund for the use and purpose 
of said life insurance fund. 

TITLE 6. 

TAX UPON FOREIGN INSURANCE! COM- 
PANIES. 

Corporation* liable to taxation. 

Sec. 798. Ant corporation or association 
created by or organized under th.e laws of 
any government other than the states of this 
Union, and having assets, funds, or capital, 
not less in amount than one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars, invested in this state, 
shall be liable to taxation upon 
such assets, funds or Invested cap- 
ital as the same is levied or as- 
sessed yearly by law, which tax shall be paid 
as follows: Such an amount thereof a-s would 
be equal to two per eVntum upon its gross 
premiums received for insurance upon prop- 
erty, in the City of New York shall, except 
as otherwise in this title provided, be paid 
annually to the fire commissioner as treas- 
urer of the fire department, and the residue 
of said tax requisite to make up the full 
amount of taxation upon its capital shall be 
paid to The City of New York, as In the case 
of ordinary taxation; and the payments so 
made as aforesaid shall exempt such cor- 
poration or assoeiation making the same 
from any and ^11 further taxation upon its 
premiums, capital or assets; and whenever 
such capital shall be reduced below said sum 
of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
or withdrawn entirely, then, and in either 
event, such corporation or association, shall 
be liable to pay the tax upon its premiums 
as hereinbefore provided in this title. 

Moneys paid to department by insur- 
ance companies, etc. 

Sec. 799. There shall be paid to the fire 
commissioner as treasurer of the fire depart- 
ment, fqr the use and benefit of said fire de- 
partment, on the first day of February, in 
each year, by every person who shall act in 
The City of New Yo.rk, as agent for or on 
behalf of any individual or association of 
Individuals, not incorporated by the laws of 
this state, to effect insurance against losses 
or injury by fire in The City of New York, al* 
though such individuals or association may 
be incorporated for that purpose by any other 
state or country, the sum of two dollars 
upon the hundred dollars, and at that rate 
upon the amount of all premiums which, 
during the year ending on the next preced- 
ing first day of September, shall have been 
received by such agent or persons, or re- 
ceived by any other person for him, or shall 
have been agreed to be paid for any insur- 
ance against loss or injury by fire in the city 
effected, or agreed to be effected, or promised 
by him as such agent. 

Account... of premiums by city agent. 

Sec. 800. Every person who shall act in the 
city as agent as aforesaid shall, on the first 


day of February, in each year, render to the 
fire commissioner as treasurer of the fire de- 
partment a Just and true account, verified by 
his oath, of all such premiums which, during 
the year ending on the first day of September 
preceding, shall have been received by him, 
or by any person for him, or which shall have 
been agreed to be paid for any such insurance 
effected, or agreed to be effected, or prom- 
ised by him. 

Undertaking?. 

Sec. 801. No person shall, as agent or oth- 
erwise, effect or agree to effect, or procure 
to be effected, any insurance upon which the 
duty above mentioned is required to be paid, 
until he shali have executed and delivered to 
the said fire commissioner a3 treasurer, an 
undertaking, under seal, to the fire de- 
partment, with such sureties as the 
said treasurer shall approve that he will 
on the first day of February, in each year, 
render a just and true account, verified by 
his oath of all such premiums which, dur- 
ing the year ending on the first day of 
September preceding, shall have been re- 
ceived by him, or by any person for him, or 
which shall have been agreed to be paid for 
any such insurance effected, or agreed to be 
effected, or promised by him, and that he 
will, on the first day of February in each 
year, pay to the said fire commissioner as 
treasurer two dollars upon every hundred 
dollars, and at that rate upon the amount of 
such premiums. 

Id. i renewal of. 

Sec. 802. Whenever, by reason of the fail- 
ure of the sureties or either' of them, or for 
any other cause, an undertaking given under 
the last preceding section shall have or may 
be deemed insufficient by the said fire com- 
missioner as treasurer to secure a return of 
the account and the payment of the duty 
aforesaid, or either of them, the said com- 
missioner as treasurer, at his election, but 
not oftener than once in each year, may re- 
quire such undertaking to be renewed. 

Id.! penalty for not executing. 

Sec. 803. Every person who shall t effect, 
agree to effect, promise or procure any insur- 
ance mentioned In the preceding sections of 
this title, without having executed and de- 
livered the undertaking hereinbefore requir- 
ed, shall, for each offense, forfeit one thou- 
sand dollars, for the use of the said fire de- 
partment; and every person who shall have 
been required by the fire commissioner as 
treasurer to renew his undertaking, pur- 
suant to the last preceding section, who shall 
effect, agree to effect, promise or procure 
any such insurance, without having executed 
and delivered the renewed undertaking, shall 
for each offense forfeit one thousand dollars, 
for the use of the said fire department. 
Demand for accounts. 

Sec. 804. It shall be lawful for the fire 
commissioner as treasurer of the fire de- 
partment, on or after the first day of Feb- 
ruary in each year, by written or printed 
demand, signed by him, to require from every 
person 'jvho shall act in the city as agent, 
as aforesaid, the account provided for in this 
title, and payment of the duty provided for; 
such demand may be delivered personally 
to such agfent, or at his office or place of 
business to any person having charge there- 
of, or who shall, for ten days after such de- 
mand neglect to render the account or to ^ay 
the duty demanded, or either of them, shall 
forfeit fifty dollars, for the use of the said 
fire department; and he shall also forfeit for j 
their use twenty-five dollars in addition for I 
every day that he shall so neglect, after the [ 


expiration of said ten days, and such ad- 
ditional penalty may be computed and re- 
covered up to the time of any suit for the 
recovery thereof. 

Place of business to be reported 

, Sec. 805. Every person who shall act in 
the city as agent, as aforesaid, shall, 
on the first day of February in each 
year, or within ten days thereafter, 
and as often in each year as he shall 
change his place of business In the city, 
report in writing, under his proper signature, 
to the comptroller of this state, and also to 
the fire commissioner as treasurer of the said 
fire department, the street and the number 
thereof in the said city, of his place of busi- 
ness as such agent, designating in such re- 
port the individual or individuals and asso- 
ciation or associations for which he shall be 
such agent. And in case of default in any of 
these particulars, such person shall forfeit 
for every offense the sum of one thousand 
dollars, for the use of the said fire depart- 
ment. 

Snlts for violations. 

Sec. 806. The duty provided to be paid by 
this title, the damages for any breach of the 
undertakings, or either of them, provided for 
therein, and the pecuniary penalties Imposed 
therein, or any or either of them, may be 
sued for and recovered, with costs of suit, in 
any court of record within this state, by the 
fire commissioner, for the use of said depart- 
,ment. 

Arrest of defendant. 

Sec. 807. The defendant In any action to be 
brought for the recovery of any penalty in- 
curred, or any duty or sum of money payable 
under this title, may be arrested. If 'he is 
net a resident of this state, or is about to 
remove therefrom. An order for the arrest 
of the defendant must be obtained from a 
Judge of the court in which the action is 
brought, or from a county judge. The order 
shall be made when it shall appear to the 
Judge, by affidavit, that a sufficient cause of 
action exists under this title, and that the 
defendant is not a resident of this state, or 
is about to remove therefrom. 

Tax ou receipts of foreign fire Insur- 
ance companies. 

Sec. 808. The corporation known as “The 
Trustees of the Exempt Firemen’s Benevo- 
lent Fund of The City of New York," shall 
be entitled to collect, and there shall be paid 
to It until the seventeenth day of January, 
nineteen hundred and seven, the percentage 
of tax on the receipts of the foreign fire in- 
surance companies doing business in The City 
of New York, as heretofore constituted, as 
provided by this title, except as to business 
done by said foreign fire insurance compa- 
nies in that part or portion of said city, 
known and designated as the twenty-third 
and twenty-fourth wards, and all returns and 
undertakings required by this title, except 
as to such business in the said twenty-third 
and twenty-fourth wards, shall, during such 
period, be made to the treasurer of the trus- 
tees of such corporation. The trustees of 
the exempt firemen’s benevolent fund of The 
City of New York shall render to the fire 
commissioner of The City of New York and 
to the treasurer of the Firemen’s Associa- 
tion of the state of New York, quarterly, in 
each year, a sworn statement in detail of the 
amounts collected and received, and from 
whom and from what source, on account of 
said tax, during each quarter; and shall, at 
the same time, pay over to the said fire com- 
missioner, as treasurer, forty-five per centum 
of the amount so collected and received in ece& 


88 


THE CHARTER OF THE CTTT OF NETT TORE. 


quarter year, for the use and benefit of the 
relief fund of the fire department of The 
City of New York, and to the treasurer of 
the Firemen’s Association of the state of 
New York, t*en per centum of the amount 
so collected and received, for the endowment, 
benefit and maintenance of the Volunteer 
Firemen’s Home, at Hudson, Columbia coun- 
ty, New York, and the moneys so received by 
the treasurer of such association shall be 
paid by him to the treasurer of the Volunteer 
Firemen's Home Association, upon the order 
of the board of trustees, thereof, as provided 
by the by-laws of tho said Home Association, 
and the balance of said fund shall be applied 
to the uses and purposes of said corporation, 
as defined and provided by chapter fifteen 
of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty- 
six. The said corporation may maintain In 
Its corporate name any action or actions in 
any court of record of this state to recover 
the tax or percentage aforesaid during such 
period, and also to recover for the breach of 
any bond or undertaking, which has been 
given or may be given to it pursuant to the 
provision of this title, or any penalty im- 
posed thereby. The corporation known as 
"The Exempt Firemen's Benevolent Fund As- 
sociation of the Twenty-third Ward of The 
City of New York (late town of Morrisanla, 
in the county of Westchester), in the county 
of New York,” shall be entitled to collect, 
and there shall be paid to it until the sev- 
enteenth day of January, nineteen hundred 
and seven, tho percentage or tax on receipts 
of the foreign fire insurance companies in the 
twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards of The 
City of New York, as provided for by this 
title, and all returns for such business in 
said twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards 
shall, during such period, be made to the 
treasurer of said last-named corporation. The 
said last-named corporation shall, during 
said period, render to the fire commissioner 
of The City of New York, and to the treas- 
urer of the Firemen’s Association of the 
State of New York, quarterly, in each year, 
a sworn statement in detail of the amounts 
collected and received, and from whom and 
from what source, on account of said tax, 
during each quarter, and shall, at the same 
time pay over to said fire commissioner, as 
treasurer, forty-five per centum of the amount 
so collected and received in each quarter year, 
for the use and benefit of the relief fund of the 
fire department of The City of New York, and 
to the treasurer of The Firemen’s Associa- 
tion of the State of New York, ten per centum 
of the amount so collected and received, for 
the endowment, benefit and maintenance of 
the Volunteer Firemen’s Home at Hudson, 
Columbia county, New York, and the moneys 
so received by the treasurer of such asso- 
ciation shall be paid by him to the treasurer 
of the Volunteer Firemen’s Home Associa- 
tion, upon the order of the board of trus- 
tees thereof, as provided by the by-laws 
of said Home Association, and the bal- 
ance of the moneys so collected and 
received by it during such period shall 
be applied to the uses and purposes of 
said corporation, as defined and provided 
by chapter four hundred and ninety-eight 
of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy- 
five. The said last-named corporation may 
maintain in its corporate name any action 
or actions in any court of record of the state 
of New l r ork, to recover the tax or per- 
centage aforesaid upon such business done 
in said twenty-third and twenty-fourth 
wards during such period, and also recover 
for the breach of bond or undertaking which 
has been or may be given to it pursuant to 
the nrorlsions of this title, or snv penalty 


imposed thereby. From and after the sev- 
enteenth day of January, nineteen hundred 
and seven, the said percentage of tax shall 
be collected by the treasurer of the fire de- 
partment of The City of New York, as pro- 
vided in this title, and thereafter until the 
seventeenth day of January, nineteen hun- 
dred and seventeen, the treasurer of said 
fire department shall render to the said cor- 
poration known as “The Trustees of the 
Exempt Firemen’s Benevolent Fund of The 
City of New York,” and to the treasurer of 
the Firemen’s Association of the State of 
New York, quarterly, in each year, a sworn 
statement in detail of the amounts collected 
and received, and from whom and from what 
source, on account of said tax during each 
quarter, excepting the amounts collected in 
that portion of said city, known as the 
twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards, and 
shall, at the same time, pay over to the said 
treasurer of the corporation known as “The 
Trustees of the Exempt Firemen's Benevo- 
lent Fund of The City of New York,” forty- 
five per cehtum of the amount so received in 
each quarter year, for the use and benefit of 
the said benevolent fund, and to the treasurer 
of the Firemen’s Association of the state 
of New York ten per centum of the amount 
so received in each quarter year, for the en- 
dowment and maintenance of the said vol- 
unteer firemen’s home; and the money so 
received by the said treasurer shall be paid 
over to the treasurer of said volunteer fire- 
men’s home in the manner aforesaid. The 
said treasurer of the fire department shall 
appropriate and apply the remainder of the 
moneys so collected and received to the 
uses and purposes of the relief fund of said 
department. Until the seventeenth day of 
January, nineteen hundred and seventeen, 
the treasurer *of said fire department shall 
render to the treasurer of the corporation 
known as the trustees of "The Exempt Fire- 
men’s Benevolent Fund Association of the 
Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards of 
The City of New York (late town of Mor- 
risanla, in the county of Westchester), in 
the county of New York,” and to the treas- 
urer of the Firemen’s Association of the 
state of New York, quarterly, in each year, 
a sworn statement in detail of the amounts 
collected and received, and from whom and 
from what source, on account of said tax, 
during each quarter, in that portion of the 
said city known as the twenty- third and 
twenty-fourth wards, and shall, at the same 
time, pay over to the said treasurer 
of the said corporation known as the 
trustees of “The Exempt Firemen’s Be- 
nevolent Fund Association of the Twenty- 
third Ward of The City of New York 
(late town of Morrisania, in the county of 
Westchester), In the county of New York,” 
forty-five per centum of the amount so re- 
ceived in each quarter year, for the use and 
benefit of the said corporation, and to the 
treasurer of the said firemen’s association 
of the state of New Y'ork, ten per centum 
of the amount so received in each quarter 
year, for the endowment and maintenance 
of said volunteer firemen’s home, and the 
moneys so received by said treasurer shall 
be paid over to the treasurer of said volun- 
teer firemen’s home in the manner aforesaid. 
The said treasurer of the fire department 
shall appropriate and apply the remainder 
of the moneys so to be collected and received 
by it to the uses and purposes of the relief 
fund of said department. The said corpora- 
tions known respectively as “The Trustees 
of the Exempt Firemen’s Benevolent Fund 
Association of The City of New Yc-i- ” md 


“The Exempt Firemen’s Benevolent Fund 
Association of the Twenty-third Ward of The 
City of New York (late town of Morrisania, 
in the county of Westchester), in the county 
of New York,” shall each make an annual 
report to the comptroller of the State of New 
York, on or before the first day in January 
in each year, duly verified by the president 
and treasurer thereof, of the amount of 
money received during the year, and from 
whom and from what source received, and 
giving in detail the names and residences 
of all persons to whom and for what pur- 
poses any moneys were paid, with the 
amount paid to each recipient, and of the 
amount of money on hand, and how invested. 
No trustee, officer or agent of either of said 
corporations shall grant or give to any 
beneficiary or other person any greater sum 
than shall have been determined by the 
board of trustees of such corporation by a 
vote of a majority of such trustees, after due 
investigations of the circumstances in each 
case, and all payments of pensions or dona- 
tions shall be made by the treasurer upon 
such order of the trustees of the corpora- 
tion, and for all such payments the treasurer 
shall take receipts from the beneficiaries re- 
ceiving the same, which receipts shall be 
filed with his report to the trustees of the 
corporation. 

Tax on receipts of foreign Are insur- 
ance companies doing business in the 

borough of Brooklyn. 

Sec. S09. There shall be paid to the fire 
commissioner, until the seventeenth day of 
January in the year nineteen hundred and 
seventeen, the percentage or tax upon the 
receipts of foreign fire insurance companies 
doing business in the borough of Brooklyn; 
and said commissioner shall cause the 
moneys so paid to him to be paid out and 
disposed of as follows: 

1. To the New York fire department relief 
fund, forty-five per centum. 

2. To the treasurer of the Firemen’s As- 
sociation of the State of New York, who 
shall pay over the same to the treasurer of 
the Volunteer Firemen’s Home at Hudson, 
New York, ten per centum. 

3. To the treasurer of the widows and or- 
phans’ fund of the late volunteer fire depart- 
ment of the western district of the late city 
of Brooklyn, twenty per centum. 

4. To the treasurer of the widows and or- 
phans’ fund of the late volunteer fire depart- 
ment of the eastern district of the late city 
of Brooklyn, thirteen and one-third per cen- 
tum. 

6. To the treasurer of the widows and or- 
phans’ fund of the late volunteer fire de- 
partment of the former town of New Lots, 
three and one-third per centum. 

6. To the treasurer of the widows and or- 
phans’ fund of the late volunteer fire de- 
partment of the former town of Flatbush, 
two and one-third per centum. 

7. To the treasurer of the widows and or- 
phans’ fund of the late volunteer fire de- 
partment of the former town of Gravesend, 
two and one-third per centum. 

8. To the treasurer of the widows and or- 
phans’ fund of the late volunteer fire de- 
partment of the former town of New Utrecht, 
two per centum. 

9. To the treasurer of the widow* and or- 
phans fund of the volunteer fire* department 
of the former town of Flatlands, one and 
two-thirds per centum. 

The fire commissioner shall quarterly in 
each year render to each of the foregoing as- 
sociations a sworn statement in detail of the 
amounts collected and received by him as 
aforesaid, and from whom and from what 
-r, ireount of sftM ., 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


87 


quarter. And the custodian or trustees re- 
ceiving moneys under the provisions of this 
act in the borough of Brooklyn shall annually 
make and render to the fire commissioner In 
the month of January a sworn statement as 
to the expenditure of said funds, and upon 
failure so to do the fire commissioner may 
withhold the said percentage and it shall be 
paid over to the New York fire department 
relief fund, and any use of said percentage 
for purposes other than provided by law 
shall be a misdemeanor and be punishable as 
such. 

Tax on receipt of foreign fire Insur- 
ance companies dollin' business in 
the borough ol' Richmond. 

Sec. 810. There shall be paid to the fire 
commissioner until the seventeem.li day of 
January In the year nineteen hundred and 
seventeen a percentage or tax upon the re- 
ceipts of foreign fire insurance companies 
doing business in the borough of Richmond; 
and said commissioner shall cause the money 
so paid to him to be paid out and disposed 
of as follows: 

1. To the New' York fire department relief 
fund, forty-five per centum. 

2. To the treasurer of the Firemen’s As- 
sociation of the State of New York, who 
shall pay over the same to the treasurer of 
the Vplunteer Firemen’s Home Association 
at Hudson, New York, ten per centum. 

3. To the treasurers of the exempt or vet- 
eran volunteer firemen’s associations exist- 
ing in the borough of Richmond at the time 
this act takes effect, forty-five per centum. 
Said forty-five per centum shall be appor- 
tioned by said fire commissioner among all 
such associations in proportion to the actual 
bona fide membership of each such associ- 
ation on the first day of January next pre- 
ceding the time when such apportionment is 
made. In determining the membership of 
such associations only exempt or honorably 
discharged volunteer firemen shall be con- 
sidered as members. 

The fire commissioner shall quarterly in 
each year render to each of the foregoing 
associations a sworn statement in detail of 
the amounts collected and received by him 
as aforesaid and from whom and from w'hat 
source on account of said tax during each 
quarter. 

Tax on receipts of foreign insurance 
companies doing business in the 
borough of Queens. 

Sec. 811. There shall be paid to the fire 
commissioner until the seventeenth day of 
January, nineteen hundred and seventeen, 
the percentage or tax upon the receipts of 
foreign fire insurance comvanies doing busi- 
ness in the borough of Queens; and said com- 
missioner shall cause the moneys so paid to 
him to be paid out and disposed of as fol- 
lows: 

1. To the New York fire department relief 
fund, forty-five per centum. 

2. To the treasurer of the Firemen’s As- 
sociation of the State of New York, who shall 
pay over the same to the treasurer of the 
Volunteer Firemen’s Home Association at 
Hudson, New York, ten per centum. 

3. To the treasurers of the exempt or vet- 
eran volunteer firemen’s associations exist- 
ing in the borough of Queens at the time 
this act takes effect, forty-five per centum. 
Said forty-five per centum shall be appor- 
tioned by said fire commissioner among all 
such associations in proportion to the actual 
bona fide membership of each such associa- 
tion on the first day of January next pre- 
ceding the time w'hen such apportionment 
is made. In determining the membership of 
nii'h as7tv' , n* t -n oblv rx“r*Dt r r ho-cnVy 


discharged volunteer firemen shall be con- 
sidered as members. 

The fire commissioner shall quarterly in 
each year render to each of the foregoing 
associations a sworn statement in detail of 
the amounts collected and received by him 
as aforesaid and from whom and from what 
source on account of said tax during each 
quarter. 

(New section, added by Laws 1901, 

Chapter 1&2.) 

Sec. 812. There shall be paid to the cor- 
poration know’n as the Westchester Exempt 
Firemen’s association of The City of New 
York, by the foreign fire insurance com- 
panies and their agents, doing business in 
that part of the twenty-fourth ward of the 
borough of The Bronx, annexed to The City 
of New York by chapter nine hundred and 
thirty-four of the laws of eighteen hundred 
and ninety-five, until the seventeenth day of 
January in the year nineteen hundred and 
seventeen, the tax of two per centum upon 
the receipts for premiums of such foreign 
fire insurance companies upon the insurance 
business done by them in said part of the 
twenty-fourth ward of the borough of The 
Bronx, and said Westchester Exempt Fire- 
men’s association of The City of New York 
shall cause the moneys so paid to it, to be 
paid over and disposed of as follows: 

1. To the fire commissioner, for the New 
York fire department relief fund, forty-five 
per centum. 

2. To the Firemen’s association of the state 
of New York, for the Volunteer Firemen’s 
home at Hudson, New York, ten per centum. 

3 The remaining forty-five per centum of 
said moneys shall be retained by the said 
Westchester Exempt Firemen’s association of 
The City of New York, to its own use. 

The said Westchester Exempt Firemen’s 
association of The City of New York shall 
quarterly in each year render to the fire com- 
missioner and to the Firemen’s association 
of the state of New York, a sworn statement 
in detail of the moneys so collected and paid 
over by said corporation as aforesaid,, and 
from whom and from what source, on account 
of said tax during the preceding quarter. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

DOCKS, PIERS, HARBOR, PORT AND 
WATERS. 

Title 1. Department of docks and ferries. 

Title 2. Piers, slips and wharfage. 

Title 3. General provisions. 

TITLE 1. 

DEPARTMENT OF DOCKS AND FER- 
RIES. 

Commissioner of <loeks, deputy com- 
missioner, appointment and salary. 

Sec. 816. The head of the department of 
docks and ferries shall be called the commis- 
sioner of docks. He shall be a resident of 
The City of New York, and shall be appointed 
by the mayor. The salary of the said com- 
missioner shall be six thousand dollars a 
year. The said commissioner shall have the 
power to appoint and at pleasure remove one 
deputy. The salary of said deputy commis- 
sioner of docks shall be four thousand five 
hundred dollars a year payable monthly. In 
the absence or inability to act of the com- 
missioner said deputy shall possess all the 
powers and perform all the duties of the com- 
missioner. — As amended by Laws of 1901, 
Chapter 724. 

Sec. 816A. Repealed Law's 1902, Chapter 609. 

Extension of jurisdiction to new terri- 
tory. 

Sec. 817. All the powers and duties hereto- 
fore vested in and devolved upon the depart- 
r-rtlt of decks, of the mart, aldermen and 


commonalty of the city of New York, are de- 
volved upon and vested in the department of 
docks and ferries hereby created, and in addi- 
tion thereto the powers and duties of said 
department are hereby extended so as to in- 
clude all the water front, wharf property, 
lands under water, wharves, piers, bulkheads 
and structures thereon situate, within the 
county of Kings; the county of Richmond and 
the county of Queens; and the said commis- 
sioner of docks shall have the same powers, 
subject to the approval of the commissioners 
of the sinking fund, to adopt and execute a 
plan or plans for the water front of 1 The City 
of New York, as constituted by this act, and 
to fix and establish the line of solid filling, 
bulkheads and pier-head lines, the distances 
between piers, methods and character of con- 
struction of wharves and piers within the en- 
tire territory of The City of New York, as 
constituted by this act, that the said depart- 
ment of docks possessed at the time this 
act takes effect within the territory of Th« 
City of New York, as heretofore known and 
bounded. 

Jurisdiction, powers and duties. 

Sec. 818. The commissioner of docks shall 
have exclusive charge and control, subject in 
the particulars hereinafter mentioned to the 
commissioners of the sinking fund, of the 
wharf property belonging to the corporation 
of The City of New York, as constituted by 
this act, including all the wharves, piers, 
bulkheads and structures thereon, and waters 
adjacent thereto, and all the slips, basins, 
docks, waterfronts, land under water and 
structures thereon and the appurtenances, 
easements, uses, reversions and rights be- 
longing thereto which are now owned or pos- 
sessed by the said corporation, or to which 
said corporation is, or may become entitled, 
or which said corporation may acquire under 
the provisions hereof, or otherwise; and said 
commissioner shall have exclusive charge and 
control of the repairing, building, rebuild- 
ing, maintaining, altering, strengthening, 
leasing and protecting said property, and 
every part thereof, and of all the cleaning, 
dredging and deepening necessary in and 
about the same. Said commissioner Is also 
hereby invested, except as otherwise expressly 
stated in this act, with the exclusive govern- 
ment and regulation of all wharf property, 
wharves, piers, bulkheads and structures 
thereon, and waters adjacent thereto, and all 
the basins, slips and docks, with the land 
under water in said city not owned by sail 
corporation. The commissioner of dockf 
shall not have power to change the exterior 
line of piers and bulkheads, established by 
law. The commissioner of docks shall also 
have exclusive charge and control, subject in 
the particulars hereinafter mentioned to the 
commissioners of the sinking fund, of all 
ferries and ferry property belonging to the 
corporation of The City of New York, as here- 
by constituted. The said commissioner is 
hereby empowered, When the approval of the 
commissioners of the sinking fund shall have 
been obtained, to establish, from time to 
time, new ferries, the franchises of which 
may be leased in the manner now provided by 
law. 

Plans lor water fronts. 

Sec. 819. The plan or plans for the whole or 
any part of the water front of The City of 
New York, as constituted by this act, includ- 
ing the water front on the westerly side of 
the Harlem river from the easterly line of 
the Third avenue Where said line strikes said 
river along the water front from said line 
to the northerly side of Eighty-sixth street 
on the east river determined upon by th* 
department of docks, of The Citv of New 


88 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


York, an heretofore known and bounded, 
adopted and certified to by the commission- 
era of the sinking fund, and filed in the office 
of sa'id department of docks, in accordance 
with the provisions of the third subdivision 
of section ninety-nine of chapter one hun- 
dred and thirty-seven of the laws of eighteeu 
hundred and seventy as amended by section 
six of chapter five hundred and seventy-four 
of the laws of eighteen hundred and seventy- 
one and such plan or plans as may be deter- 
mined upon pursuant to section eight hun- 
dred and seventeen of this act, adopted and 
certified to by the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund and filed, or that may be filed in 
tbe office of said commissioner of docks shall 
be and continue to be the sole plan or plans, 
according to which any wharf, pier, bulkhead, 
basin, dock, slip or any wharf structure or 
superstructure shall be laid out or construct- 
ed within the territory or district embraced, 
or that may hereafter be embraced in and 
specified upon said plan or plans, and shall be 
the sole plan or plans and authority for solid 
filling in the waters surrounding The City 
of New York, and on said Harlem river, and 
for extending pjers into said waters and erect- 
ing bulkheads around said city, and on the 
westerly side of the Harlem river, and all 
other provisions of law regulating solid fill- 
ing and plef and bulkhead lines in said wa- 
ters. are to be deemed to be repealed when- 
ever said plan or plans is or are inconsist- 
ent with such provisions of law and all laws 
giving any power or authority as to said water 
front in tire territory embraced in this sec- 
tion, to any other department of The City 
of New York, as heretofore known and bound- 
ed, or to any department of any municipal 
or public corporation which, or part of which, 
is consolidated by this act with the mayor, 
aldermen and commonalty of the city of New 
York, 'are hereby repealed. No wharf, pier, 
bulkhead, basin, dock slip, exterior street 
or any wharf, structure or superstructure 
ahall be laid out, built or rebuilt, within 
such territory or district except in accordance 
with such plan or plans, provided that said 
commissioner of docks, with the consent and 
approval of the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund, may, from time to time, change the 
width or location of the piers laid «down on 
said plan or plans; and provided, also, that 
said commissioner of docks fnay build, or re- 
build, or license, or permit the building or 
rebuilding, of temporary wharf structures, and 
said commissioner may lease land covered 
with water belonging to The City of New 
York for tbe purpose thereof, such lease, or 
permit to continue and remain at the will and 
pleasure of said commissioner, or for a time 
not longer than until the wharves, piers, bulk- 
heads, basins, docks or slips to be built or 
constructed according to such plan or plans, 
shall in the Judgment of said commissioner, 
require and need to he built or constructed; 
and provided, further, that the commissioner 
of docks with the consent and approval of 
the commissioners of the sinking fund may 
alter and extend the present pier head line, 
as now established on the Hudson river, be- 
tween Battery place and Seventieth street, 
and establish a new pier head line between 
these point*, and may authorize the construc- 
tion of new piers out to said pier head line, 
and may extend those piers already built out 
to said line; and may build new piers or ex- 
tend piers already built, out to such pUr 
bead lines as are now or may hereafter be 
established by the secretary of war under act 
of congress. The commissioner of docks is 
hereby authorized and empowered, with the 
client and approval of the commissioners of 
the sinking fund, to alter and amend the plans 
of the improvement of the water front deter- 
mined upon by the department of docks, and 


approved by the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund of the city and county of New 
York, in eighteen hundred and seventy-one, 
between the Battery and Grand street on the 
East river and between the Battery and West 
Sixty-second street on the Nortfi river. 
Whenever the plan so determined upon and 
adopted, or hereafter to be determined upon 
and adopted, shall include the widening of an 
exterior street or avenue, or the opening and 
construction of a new exterior street or ex- 
terior avenue, or the abandonment or closing 
of such street or avenue already In existence, 
the power to widen, open, construct, aban- 
don or close the same shall exclusively re- 
side with the said commissioner of docks, 
who is hereby authorized to take such steps 
as may be necessary in that regard, and after 
the same shall have been so widened or 
•pened, the right to maintain the widened por- 
tion of a street or avenue already opened, 
and such dew street or avenue shall also re- 
side with the said commissioner of doctfs; 
but the street or avenue so widened to the 
extent of the part so widened, or such new 
street or avenue opened under this plan shall 
not be a public street, but shall be a marginal 
wharf, and shall be used in that regard In 
such manner from time to time as the com- 
missioner of docks shall, by resolution, deter- 
mine. The commissioner of docks shall have 
exclusive power to regulate the use of mar- 
ginal streets so that the land and buildings 
upon all such marginal .streets may be used 
to the best advantage in connection with the 
wharves and bulkheads; and, the commission- 
er of docks shall have the power to regulate, 
by license or by any other suitable means, 
the transfer of goods and merchandise 
upon, over or under all such marginal streets; 
except that the said commissioner of docks 
shall not, under this section, have any power 
in respect to, or Jurisdiction over, the pub- 
lic driveway authorized by and constructed 
under chapter one hundred and two of the 
laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-three 
and acts amendatory thereof. 

Ssrveya of water front. 

Sec. 820. The commissioner of docks is au- 
thorized to cause to be made the necessary 
surveys, soundings and other examinations 
of the water front of The City of New York, 
as constituted by this act, where the same 
has not already been determined, and to as- 
certain the capacities and requirements of 
said water front for adaptation to commer- 
cial and other uses. 

Construction of piers and docks rugn- 

luted. 

Sec. 821. In executing the plan or plans 
mentioned in section eight hundred and 
nineteen of this act, the commissioner of 
docks shall proceed, according to said plan 
or plans, to lay out, establish, and con- 
struct, wharves, piers, bulkheads, basins, 
docks or slips in the territory or district 
embraced in such plan or plans, and in and 
upon or about the property owned by the 
city of New York, without interfering with 
the property or Bights of any other person, 
except so far as may be necessary to insure 
the safety and stability of the wharves, 
piers, bulkheads, basins or slips so to be 
constructed. And the said commissioner 
may commence and carry on such construc- 
tion in sections of said territory or district 
from t’me to time so as not to seriously 
incommode the commerce of said city. The 
work of said construction under such plan 
or plans shall, unless ordered to be other- 
wise performed by the commissioner of 
docks, be performed as follows: The said 
commissioner of docks shall prepare full 
and minute specifications for such work, and 
advertise for proposals for doing said work 


under said plan tfr plans, and according to 
such specifications; proposals therefor shall 
be signed by the bidders for the said work 
and be sent to tbe said commissioner within 
the time specified in such advertisement, 
accompanied by a bond in the for.m set f&rth 
in said specifications, duly executed. The 
said commissioner of docks shall open said 
proposals on a day to be specified in such 
advertisement and shall examine them and, 
unless the said commissioner shall deem it 
for the interest of the city to reject all bids, 
shall award the contract for such work to 
the lowest responsible bidder complying 
with such plan or plans and specifications; 
such contract shall be executed by the said 
commissioner of docks on behalf of the city 
of New York, and shall always contain pro- 
visions as to the time of commencing and 
completing said work and for the retention 
of at least tfne-fourlh of its contract price 
until the completion of sai'd work, as securi- 
ty for its performance, and for the forfeiture 
of said contract for non-performance of 
the terms thereof. Said commissioner of 
docks may, upon the forfeiture of any such 
contract, proceed to complete the work 
thereunder without contract or may read- 
vertlse for proposals to complete said work 
and award a new contract therefor in the 
same manner as provided herein for award- 
ing the original contract; hut no bidder 
under this section shall be entitled to a con- 
tract until his bid be approved and accepted 
by said commissioner of docks. No dredging 
shall be contracted for and no material nor 
supplies for work of construction under said 
plan or plans shall be purchased except as 
provided in section fout hundred and nine- 
teen of this act. Provided, however, that 
repairs not to. exceed one thousand dollars 
in amount on any one dock, pier or bulk- 
head, may be done by day’s work, and with- 
out contract, Whenever in the ludgment of 
the commissioner of docks it is expedient 
so to do. — As amended by Laws of 1802, 
Chapter fi09. 

Porckase of wharf property for cor- 
poration; proceedings to acquire. 

Sec. 822. The commissioner of docks, with 
the approval of the commissioners of the 
sinking fund, is authorized to acquire in the 
name and for the benefit of the corporation 
of The City of New York any and all wharf 
property in The City of New York, as con- 
stituted by this act, to which the corpora- 
tion of The City of New York then has no 
right or title, and any rights, terms, ease- 
ments and privileges pertaining to any wharf 
property in The City of New York, and not 
owned by said corporation; and said commis- 
sioner of docks may acquire the same either 
by purchase or by process of law, as herein 
provided. Said commissioner of docks may 
agree with the owners of any such property, 
rights, terms, easements, or privileges, upon 
a prlee for the same, and shall certify such 
agreement to the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund, and if the said commissioners ap- 
prove of such agreement, said commissioner 
of docks shall take from such owners, at 
such price, the necessary conveyances and 
covenant? for vesting said property, rights, 
terms, easements or privileges in, and as- 
suring the same to The City of New York 
forever, and said owner shall be paid such 
price from the city treasury as provided in 
this act. If the said commissioner of docks 
sha-ll deem it proper and expedient that the 
said corporation should acquire possession 
of such wharf property, rights, terms, ease- 
ments or privileges, for which no price can 
be agreed upon between said commissioner 
and the owner or owners thereof, the said 
commissioner of docks may direct the cor- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 


89 


poration counsel of said city to take legal 
proceecflngs to acquire the same for the city, 
and the said corporation counsel shall take 
the same proceedings to acquire the same 
as are by law provided for the taking of pri- 
vate property in said city for public streets 
or places, and the provisions of law relating 
to the taking of private property for public 
streets or places in said city are hereby made 
applicable, as far as may be necessary, to 
the acquiring of the said property, rights, 
terms, easements and privileges, and the said 
commissioner of docks is also empowered to 
acquire in like manner the title to such lands 
under water and uplands, or any rights, 
terms or easements appertaining thereto, 
within The City of New York, as constituted 
by this act, as shall seem to said commis- 
sioner of docks necessary to be taken for 
the improvement of the water front, or for 
the equipment, maintenance or operation of 
a ferry, ox for the acquirement of, terminal 
facilities therefor or approaches thereto 
upon the water front of the borough of Rich- 
mond or upon the water front of the borough 
of Brooklyn between Thirty-eighth street 
and Sixtieth street. And for the purpose of 
attempting to agree upon a price with the 
owners of such wharf property, lands un- 
der water, uplands, rights, terms, easements, 
or privileges, it shall be sufficient for 
the said commissioner of docks to serve upon 
the said owners of’ said wharf property, 
rights, terms, easements or privileges a writ- 
ten offer signed by said commissioner, of 
docks offering a price for the said wharf 
property, rights, terms, easements or privi- 
leges, with notice of the passage of a reso- 
lution of approval of the application by the 
commissioners of the sinking fund, by per- 
sonal or substituted service in the same man- 
ner, so far as the same can be made applic- 
able thereto, as is provided for personal or 
substituted service 'of a summons in an ac- 
tion by chapter five of the code of civil pro- 
cedure, unless the suprerge court, upon appli- 
cation of said commissioner of docks, shall 
direct some other and different mode of ser- 
vice. The Just compensation to which the 
owner of property taken under the foregoing 
provisions is entitled shall' be aseertained 
and determined upon the following prin- 
ciples. If all of the property of such owner 
is taken, the compensation awarded shall be 
the fair and- just value of the said property. 
If the property of the riparian proprietor 
has been built upon or improved, and if such 
buildings or improvements are upon a single 
tract contiguous to or adjoining lands under 
water, or which were originally under water, 
and used in connection therewith, and part 
only of such property is proposed to be 
taken, the fair and Just value of the entire 
premises shall first be ascertained, and then 
there shall be ascertained the like value of 
the premises in the condition in which they 
will be after the part is taken, and the differ- 
ence in value bo it mbre or less than the 
separate value of the part taken, shall con- 
stitute the measure of compensation. Pro- 
vided that said commissioner of docks, with 
the approval of the commissioners of the 
sinking fund, hereby is empowered to agree, 
license and permit private owners of any 
bulkheads, piers or water rights, to make 
the necessary improvements upon their bulk- 
heads, piers or water rights, so as to con- 
form to the plan already adopted by the de- 
partment of docks, and approved by the com- 
missioners of the sinking fund of The City 
of New York, as heretofore known aid 
bounded, or to be hereafter adopted and ap- 
proved, pursuant to this chapter, during the 
period which shall intervene prior to the 
•xtinguishment of such private ownerships by 


The City of New York, such improvements 
to be made by such owners under the super- 
vision of or by the commissioner of docks, 
as ma,y be agreed upon, at the cost and ex- 
pense of such private owners, in the first 
instance, and upon such reasonable terms aa 
to reimbursing said private owners for such 
improvements, and as to wharfage and other 
riparian rights thereon and therefrom, as 
may be agreed upon. All agreements, and 
licenses or permits heretofore made or en- 
tered into between the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of the city of New York and any 
private owners, as to the making of like im- 
provements upon their property, are hereby 
ratified, confirmed and made valid. 

The provisions of this section shall apply 
to any wharf property, lands under water, 
uplands, rights, terms, easements or priv- 
ileges, when required for the equipment, 
maintenance or operation of a ferry or the 
acquirement of terminal facilities therefor, 
or approaches thereto, upon the water front 
of the Borough of Richmond or upon the 
water front of The Borough of Brooklyn, be- 
tween Thirty-eighth street and Sixtieth street, 
whether such wharf property, lands under 
water, uplands, rights, terms, easements or 
privileges have been previously taken for a 
public use or not.— As amended by Laws df 
1903, Chapter 624. 

Acquirement of certain wharf prop- 
erty on North and East rivers. 

Sec. 823. In all proceedings taken prior to 
the first day of April, nineteen hundred and 
one, by the board of docks of The City of 
New York for the acquirement of wharf prop- 
erty, rights, terms, easements, or privileges, 
or lands under water and uplands In The 
City of New York, If said wharf property or 
lands under water, or wharf property to 
which said rights, terms, easements, or priv- 
ileges are appurtenant, Is or are, situated 
between the southerly side of Bethune street 
and the northerly side of Oansevoort street, 
upon or adjacent to the North river in The 
City of New York, or between the southerly 
side of East Eighteenth street and the south- 
erly side of East Twenty-first street, upon 
or adjacent to the East river, it shall not be 
necessary for the said board of docks to make 
any attempt to agree wl,th the owners of any 
euch property, rights, terms, easements, priv- 
ileges, uplands or lands under water, upon 
a price for the same, before commencing 
the proceedings authorized by section eight 
hundred and tweniy-two of this act. In a 
proceeding brought for the acquirement of 
any such wharf property, rights, terms, ease- 
ments, or privileges, or uplands, or lands 
under water situate, as In this section set 
forth, the title to the said wharf property, 
uplands and lands under water, rights, 
terms, easements, and privileges shall vest 
In The City of New York four months after 
the filing in the office of the clerk of the 
supreme court, In the first judicial district, 
of the oaths of the commissioners of esti- 
mate and assessment in said proceeding ap- 
pointed, and all of the rights, title and in- 
terest of an£ ana all of the owners or per- 
sons interested in the said wharf property, 
rights, terms, easements, and privileges or 
lands under water, or uplands, shall cease 
and determine and be extinguished at such 
time. All the awards made In such proceed- 
ing for the value of property acquired or in- 
terests extinguished, shall draw Interest 
from the time of the vesting of the title in 
The City of New York. 


Acquirement of certain wharf proper- 
ty in the boroughs of Ricbbiond and 
Brooklyn and on North River and 
East River la the Borough of Man- 
hattan. 

• 

Sec. 823a. In all proceedings hereafter 
taken by the commissioner of docks of The 
City of New York for the acquirement of 
wharf property, rights, terms, easements or 
privileges, or lands under water and uplands 
In The City of New York If said wharf 
property or lands under water, or wharf or 
other property to which said rights, terms, 
easements, or privileges are appurtenant, is 
or are, situated upon the water front of the 
Borough of Richmond, or anywhere within 
The Borough of Richmond or upon the water 
front of The Borough of Brooklyn, between 
Thirty-eighth street and Sixtieth street, or 
between the southerly side of Bloomfield 
street, and the northerly side of West Twen- 
ty-third street, upon or adjacent to the North 
River in The Borough of Manhattan, between 
the Battery and Pier three, in The City of 
New York, it shall not be necessary for the 
said commissioner of docks to make any at- 
tempt to agree with the owners of any such 
property, rights, terms, easements, privileges, 
uplands or lands under water, upon a price 
for the same, before commencing the pro- 
ceedings authorized by section eight hundred 
and twenty-two of this act. In a proceeding 
hereafter brought for the acquirement of 
any such wharf property, rights, terms, ease- 
ments, or privileges, or uplands or lands 
under water situate as in this section set 
forth, if the commissioner^ of sinking fund 
shall by resolution so direct the title to the 
said wharf property, uplands and lands under 
water, rights, terms, easements, and priv- 
ileges shall vest in The City of New York at 
such time as said resolution shall direct after 
the filing in the office of the clerk of the 
county where the proceedings are pending, 
dT the oaths of the commissioners of esti- 
mate and assessment in said proceeding ap- 
pointed, and all of the rights, title and in- 
terest of any and all of the owners or persons 
Interested in the said wharf property, rights, 
terms, easements, and privileges or lands 
under water, or uplands, shall cease and de- 
termine and be extinguished at such time. 
All the awards made in such proceedings for 
the value of property acquired or interests 
extinguished shall draw interest from the 
time of the vesting of the title in The City 
of New York.— Added by Laws of 1902, Chap- 
ter 611. — As amended-by Laws of 1903, Chap- 
ter 624. 

Acquirement of wharf property In 
which city has some Interest. 

Sec. 824. In all proceedings by the com- 
.missioner of docks of The City of N«£ 
Ycrk, fcr the acquirement of the lnte»-> 

eats of any person or corporation 

who Is an owner in common or a 

joint-tenant with The City of New York, 
of any wharf property, rights, terms, ease- 
ments, or privileges, or lands under water 
and uplands, it shall not be necessary for 
the said commissioner of Jocks to make any 
attempt to agree with said person or cor- 
poration who is a tenant in common or joint 
tenant as aforesaid with The City of New 
York, upon a price for the same, before 

commencing the proceedings authorized by 
section eight hundred and twenty-two of 
this act. In a proceeding brought for the 
acquirement of any such right, title or in- 
terest In or to any such wharf property, 
rights, terms, easements or privileges, or up- 
lands, or lands under water, owned as in this 
section set forth, the title of the person or 
corporation who, or which is the tenant IB 


90 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


common or joint tenant with Tho City of 
New York to the said wharf property, up- 
lands and lands under water, rights, terms, 
easements and privileges, shall vest tu Tho 
City of New York four months after tho 
filing In the niflce of the clerk of the supremo 
court, in the first judicial district, of the 
oaths of the commissioners of estimate and 
assessment in said proceeding appointed, and 
all of the rights, title, and interest of, in and 
to the said owners, persons or corporations 
interested in said wharf property, rights, 
terms, easements, privileges or lands under 
water or uplands, shall cease, determine and 
he extinguished at such time. All the awards 
made In such proceeding for the value of 
property acquired or interest extinguished 
shall draw interest from the time of vest- 
tag of the title in The City of New York. 

Wharfage anil dockage charges; leas- 
ing property; oyster business; desig- 
nation of waler front for. 

Sec. S25. Whenever any of the wharves, 
piers, bulkheads, slips, docks and basins 
constructed under the provisions of this 
chapter shall be opened to the public use, 
the commissioner of docks shall, subject to 
‘.he provisions of law, regulate the charges 
for wharfage, cranage and dockage of all 
vessels admitted thereto, and may alter such 
charges from time to time as the public 
trade may authorize and the said commis- 
sioner of docks deem proper; provided, that 
the rates of wharfage on boats navigating 
tho canals of the state shall not be increased 
beyond the rates in force o"n April eight- 
eenth. eighteen hundred and seventy-one, 
except as hereinafter specifically provided, 
and no restriction of the amount of wharf 
and slip room occupied by them shall be 
made; and said commissioner of docks may 
appropriate any of such wharves as the 
owners thereof may apply to have so desig- 
nated or appropriated to the sole use of 
special kinds of commerce, or of steamboats, 
or of any other class or description of ships 
or vessels, and may restrain and prohibit 
any ship, steamboat, or any other vessel or 
water craft whatever from coming Into, or 
lying, mooring, or anchoring at or within 
any such wharf, pier or slip of said the city 
of New York, except such as may be so 
designated for their use respectively. Said 
commissioner of docks may, in the name and 
for the benefit of the corporation of the 
city of New York lease any or all of such 
property, and any and all wharf property 
belonging to the city of New York as consti- 
tuted by this act, for a term not exceeding 
ten years, and covenant for renewal or re- 
newals at advanced rents of such leases for 
terms ten years each, but not exceeding in 
the aggregate fifty years. But unless said 
leases are sold at public auction and duly 
advertised in the City Record and the cor- 
poration newspapers for at least ten days, 
said commissioner shall make no lease 
authorized by this section unless the terms 
of said lease are approved by the commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund; but temporary 
permits for a period not exceeding one year 
may be granted to usa and occupy said 
wharf property, said permits to be termina- 
ble at the will of the commissioner. The 
commissioner of docks may set aside, desig- 
nate and appropriate a suitable location on 
the water front in the city of New York for 
the sole use of the oyster business. Such 
designation or appropriation shall be sub- 
ject at any time to revocation by said com- 
missioner. — As ameuded by Laws of 1902, 
Che ntpr ^9. 


Id; leases, ete. 

Sec. 825a. If a person or corporation de- 
sires to enter into a lease of any such prop- 
erty or wharf property, and the commis- 
sioner of docks and such person or corpora- 
tion shall not be able to agree upon the 
rental and the general terms and condi- 
tions of said lease, then the said commission- 
er shall decline in writing the offer of terms 
which may have been made by such person 
or corporation. Such person or corporation 
may thereupon submit his or its proposed 
terms to the commissioners of the sinking 
fund, at their next meeting, and the said com- 
missioners shall forthwith accept or refuse 
the terms so offered, and if said commis- 
sioners accept the same, the commissioner 
of docks shall thereupon execute such lease. 
— Added by Laws of 1901, Chapter 724. 
Ferric*; establishment and leasing of. 

Sec. 826. The commissioner of docks shall 
have power and is authorized to lease in the 
name of and for the benefit of The City of 
New York in the manner provided by law, 
the franchise of any ferry or ferries belong- 
ing to said city for the highest marketable 
price or rental, at public auction or by 
sealed bids, and always after public adver- 
tisement and appraisal under the direction 
of said commissioner, but not for a term 
longer than twenty-five years, nor for a re- 
newal for a longer term than ten years. 
And said commissioner shall also possess 
the power and is hereby authorized to lease, 
in like manner along with the franchise of 
a ferry or ferries belonging to said city, such 
wharf property, including wharves, piers, 
bulkheads and structures thereon and slips, 
docks and water fronts adjacent thereto, 
used or required for the purposes of such 
ferry or ferries, now owned or possessed, 
or which may hereafter be owned or acquired 
by said city or to which the said city is or 
may become entitled, or of which it may 
become possessed. But said commissioner 
shall make no lease authorized by this sec- 
tion, unless the terms of said lease are ap- 
proved by the commissioners of the sinking 
fund. The proceeds of said leasing shall 
on receipt thereof after paying all necessary 
charges be immediately paid to the credit of 
the sinking fund. But nothing in this sec- 
tion contained shall be held to apply to that 
portion of the East River which is, by law, 
exclusively set apart for the use of canal 
boats engaged in the transportation of 
freights in the Hudson River coming to tide- 
water from the canals of this state. Leases 
of such franchises may in the discretion of 
the commissioner of docks and the com- 
missioner of the sinking fund provide for 
the character of transportation service to 
be furnished by the lessee, including the char- 
acter and speed of the boats to be used, fre- 
quency of trips, rates of fare and commu- 
tation and freight charges, and may provide 
for forfeiture of the lease in the event of 
failure to comply with its provisions in re- 
gard thereto. Whenever it may be deter- 
mined by the unanimous vote of the com- 
missioners of the sinking fund, upon the rec- 
ommendation of the commissioner of docks, 
that the interests of the city will not 
be best promoted by leasing the fran- 
chise of a ferry in the manner hereinbefore 
directed, it shall be lawful for said com- 
missioner of docks and said commissioners 
of the sinking fund by resolutions adopted by 
such unanimous votes, to lease such fran- 
chises by private agreement for terms not 
exceeding twenty-five years and under such 
conditions as, in their judgment, will best 
protect and further the interests of the city 
and the traveling public, or to neqnlro tho 


necessary real estate property, plant or equip- 
ment for such ferry, Including necessary 
terminal facilities and approaches upon the 
water front In The Borough of Richmond or 
upon the water front of The Borough of 
Brooklyn, between Thirty-eighth street and 
Sixtieth street, and to provide for the main- 
tenance and operation thereof under the su- 
pervision of the commissioner of docks, in 
the name of and for the benefit of The City 
of New York, upon a plan to be devised by 
him and approved by the said commissioners. 
The revenues derived from such operation, 
shall on receipt thereof, after payment of 
all necessary charges, immediately be paid 
to the credit of the sinking fund.— As amended 
by Laws of 1903, Chapter 624. 
Establishment of rules for govern- 
ment; penalties. 

Sec. 827. The commissioner of docks shall, 
by general ordinances, from time to time, 
establish all needful rules and regulations 
for the government and proper care of all 
the property placed in the charge of the com- 
missioner of docks and under his control by 
the provisions of this chapter, relating 
thereto. The commissioner of docks shall 
furnish a copy of such rules and regulations 
to all the owners and occupants of such 
property, shall enforce such rules and reg- 
ulations, and shall make all needful orders 
necessary to carry out the provisions of this 
chapter relating thereto into effect, and shall 
publish such orders. The violation of or 
disobedience to any rule or regulation or 
any order of said commissioner of docks, 
shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine 
not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by 
imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or 
by both such fine and imprisonment, on 
complaint of such commissiocer of docks. 
The penalties aforesaid may be recovered 
by suit in the name of The City of New 
York, and such suit shall be prosecuted by 
the corporation counsel when directed by 
the commissioner of docks, and no defend- 
ant in any suit shall be permitted to plead 
ignorance of any such order, rule or regula- 
tion. AH rents, fines and penalties, and all 
other money collected by said commissioner 
or by his direction, shall be paid into the 
sinking fund for the redemption of the city 
debt. — As amended by Laws of 1901, Chapter 
724. 

Office* and officer*; duties and salaries. 

Sec. 828. The commissioner of docks shall 
have power to furnish and supply offices, 
provided in accordance with law, for th® 
transaction of the business of the depart- 
ment of docks and ferries. The commis- 
sioner of docks shall appoint a secretary 
and other officers, clerks and agents to as- 
sist said commissioner in the performance 
of his duties and the exercise of his powers; 
and also the necessary employes for th® 
work of construction, repairs and mainte- 
nance. But the annual expenses of said de- 
partment for rent, furniture, supplies, and 
compensation of secretary and subordinate 
officers, clerks, and agents shall not exceed 
in the aggregate the sum of one hundred 
thousand dollars, except with the consent of 
the commissioners of the sinking fund. 
Annnnl report; contents. 

Sec. S2D. The commissioner of docks shall 
annualiy present to the mayor of the city a 
report containing: First. The name, occu- 
pation, and compensation of all officers, 
clerks and agents appointed and employed 
by said department. Second. A statement 
of the actions of the department of docks for 
the past year, classified with reference to the 
various Riihjpct*? and duties w v lnh have an- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CTTT OF NEW YORK. 


91 


gaged his attention. Third. A list of the 
orders and rules made by said commissioner 
of docks, and a description of the contracts 
made by said commissioner, the payments 
made by said commissioner and the purposes 
and amounts thereof, and the leases made by 
said commissioner, for what term, at what 
rent, to whom, and for what property. Said 
commissioner of docks shall at the time he 
presents his said annual report to the mayor 
also file with the civil service supervisory 
and examining boards of The City of New 
York a complete statement of the name, ad- 
dress and salary or compensation of all per- 
sons employed in any capacity by said depart- 
ment of docks, which shall be published in 
the City Record. 

Seal. 

Sec. 830. The commissioner of docks may 
adopt a common seal for said department of 
docks and ferries, and direct its use. Said 
seal shall be a device of the arms of The 
City of New r York surrounded by the words, 
“Department of Docks and Ferries. The 
City of New York.” engraved upon a metal 
disk two and one-quarter Inches in diameter, 
and the same may be renewed whenever nec- 
essary. An impression of such seal mad* 
directly on paper shall be as valid as if made 
on a wafer or on wax. Every lease, con- 
tract or other instrument, executed in pur- 
suance of any authority conferred on said 
commissioner of docks by law, and sealed 
with such seal, attested and proved accord- 
ing to law by the secretary appointed by said 
commissioner shall be received in evidence, 
and may be recorded in the proper record- 
ing offices in the same manner and with the 
like effect as if sealed with the 3eal of the 
corporation of The City of New York, at- 
tested and proved by the clerk thereof. 

LomU under venter owned by state. 

Sec. 831. The commissioners of the land 
office are hereby authorized to convey by 
proper instruments, in writing, necessary for 
the purpose, all the property, right, title and 
Interest of the people of the state of New 
York, in and to the land under water, which 
the commissioner of docks may deem neces- 
sary for the construction of wharves, docks, 
piers, bulkheads, basins, and slips, under this 
chapter, whenever said commissioners may- 
be required by said commissioner of docks 
to make such conveyance to The City of 
New York. But such conveyance shall be 
made after compliance with such reasonable 
rules and regulations *as the said commis- 
sioners of the land office are now empow- 
ered to make by law; and nothing in this 
chapter shall be so construed as to remove 
or limit the powers and duties of the said 
commissioners as now conferred upon them 
by the statutes of the state and as pre- 
scribed in other sections and provisions of 
this act. 

Slay deepen water adjoining; wharf, 

etc. 

Sec. 832. It shall be lawful for the com- 
missioner of docks to order and direct that 
the water near and adjoining any private 
wharf, pier, dock, bulkhead or land with- 
in the liifiits of The City of New York, be 
deepened by excavating or removing the 
earth, mud, dirt, or sand therefrom, and to 
cause the same to be done in such places 
and at such times as the said commissioner 
may deem necessary and proper. 

Property and wharf property defined. 

Sec. 833. The terms “property” and "wharf 
property” whenever used in this chapter, 
shall be taken to mean not only all wharves, 
piers, docks, bulkheads, slips and basins, but 

the Inrcl beneath tV -srutv*. *-d ail r'~!’.‘s. 


privileges and easements appurtenant there- 
to, and such upland or made land adjacent to 
I the said wharves, piers, docks, bulkheads, 

I slips and basins, jurisdiction over which said 
I upland and made land may be assigned to 
the department of docks and ferries by the 
i commissioners of the sinking fund. 

Sites for floating; baths. 

Sec. 834. The commissioner of docks shall, 
upon the requisition of the respective bor- 
ough presidents, furnish free of charge in 
the vicinity of such locations as shall be 
designated by such presidents respectively 
accessible, convenient, and safe berths for 
mooring the free floating baths, authorized 
by law. 

Public markets nn«t wharves. 

Sec. 835. It shall be lawful for The City 
of New York, in case it shall find it neces- 
sary, to cause public markets to be erected, 
and kept over the w'aters of the East and 
North rivers adjoining to any of its docks 
or wharves; provided, that such markets shall 
not interfere with the flow of the waters 
of the said river3, nor be built beyond the 
pier or bulkhead line established by law. 

Docks to be set apart for street clean- 
ing department anil board of health. 

Sec. 83C. The commissioner of docks shall 
designate and set apart for the use of the 
department of street cleaning, the board of 
health, and other city departments, suitable 
and sufficient wharves, piers, bulkheads, slips 
and berths in slips for the use of said depart- 
ments. 

Setting apart piers for recreation. 

Sec. 837. The commissioner of docks is 
hereby authorized to set apart the follow- 
ing piers in The City of New York, to wit: 
A pier at or near the foot of Perry street, 
on the Hudson river, and such other piers 
along the Hudson river water front and the 
East river water front of the said city, as the 
said commissioner of docks shall deem, from 
time to time, necessary for the use of the 
inhabitants of The City of New York, as 
hereinafter provided, and for the conven- 
ience of dealers in country produce and other 
merchandise transported to The City of New 
York for sale. The purpose of this sec- 
tion is to afford the inhabitants of The City 
of New York greater opportunity for health- 
ful recreation than they now possess, and to 
accomplish such end the said commissioner 
of docks is hereby authorized to construct 
or rebuild the piers set apart under the 
provisions of this section for public use in 
such manner as shall provide a platform or 
upper story thereof, and the approaches 
thereto shall be constructed under the di- 
rection of a skilled architect, who shall be 
employed by said commissioner of docks for 
that purpose. The intention hereof being to 
permit the upper story of each one of the 
piers herein authorized to be set apart for 
public use wholly free to the inhabitants of 
said city for the purpose aforesaid without 
interference with business occupations, and 
the said piers on the lower stories thereof 
shall be open to use to boats and vessels 
plying upon canals, rivers and lakes of this 
state which may bring merchandise to the 
city for sale therein. The occupation of po- 
sitions by boats at the piers herein men- 
tioned shall be under the control of the com- 
missioner of docks, and order shall be main- 
tained by the police authorities of The City 
of New York in and around such portions 
of the said docks as may be set apart for 
recreation purposes aforesaid. Except as 
hereinbefore provided, no wharf, pier, bulk- 
1 pori 0 -. p’v'11 b"' r-'-’T" ’ h" *h" -ore- 


missioner of docks to be so constructed as 
to admit of the free public use of the roof 
thereof for the purposes of resort and recre- 
ation. 

Water front to be set apart for ase of 
Are department. 

Sec. 838. The commissioner of docks, with 
the consent and approval of the commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund, is hereby author- 
ized to set apart, for the permanent and ex- 
clusive use of the fire department of The 
City of New York, so much of the water 
front owned by said city as shall be deemed 
necessary for the exclusive use of the said 
fire department of The City of New York. 

TITLE 2. 

PIERS, SLIPS AND WHARFAGE. 

Slieds for protection of property upon 
piers or bulkheads; construction of 
the same regulated by commissioner 
of docks. 

Sec. 844. Whenever any person, company or 
corporation, engaged in the business of steam 
transportation, shall be owner or lessee of 
any pier or bulkhead in The City of New 
York, and shall use and employ the same 
for the purpose of regularly receiving and 
discharging cargo thereat, it -shall be law- 
ful for such owner or for such lessee, with 
the consent of the lessor, to erect and main- 
tain, upon such pier or bulkhead, sheds for 
the protection of property so received or 
discharged, provided they shall have ob- 
tained from the commissioner of docks, in 
said city, license or authority to erect or 
maintain the same, and subject to the con- 
ditions and restrictions contained in such 
license or authority; but when such license 
or authority has been granted and has been 
acted upon, it shall not be revoked by said 
commissioner without the consent in writing 
of the mayor and of the commissioners of 
the sinking fund, after due hearing of such 
licensee. All sheds or structures erected 
or maintained upon any wharf or pier in 
The City of New York, as heretofore known 
and bounded, under any license or permit 
heretofore granted by the department of 
docks of said city, or hereafter erected or 
maintained upon any wharf or pier In The 
City of New York, under any license or per- 
mit granted by the commissioner of docks 
of said city, are declared to be lawful struc- 
tures, subject to the terms and conditions 
of the license or permit authorizing the same. 
Such sheds hereafter shall be constructed 
subject to the regulations and under the 
authority of the commissioner of docks. Any 
such owner or lessee of a pier, or of a pier 
or bulkhead, or a part thereof, in respect 
to which the commissioner of docks shall 
have granted the license or authority herein 
specified, shall be entitled to the use of the 
premises so owned or leased by them and 
no vessel shall be placed in any berth on 
such pier, or bulkhead, or part thereof, with- 
out the consent of such owner or lessee, dur- 
ing the continuance of such license. The 
commissioner of docks shall have power to 
build the above structures on any wharf or 
bulkhead belonging to The City of New 
York, and shall have power to lease the 
same; and any lessee thereof shall have all 
the rights and privileges above granted. 
Provided that all sheds or structures law- 
fully erected or maintained at the time this 
act takes effect upon any wharf or pier in 
any part of the territory embraced within 
The City of New York, as constituted by this 
act, are hereby declared to be lawful struc- 
*’.T s. 


92 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Wharves, slip*, etc., not to 'be used ail 

dumping- Krvundi. 

Sec. S45. It shall not be lawful to permit 
the use as a dumping ground of any wharf, 
pier or slip, or bulkhead adjacent thereto 
In the navigable waters of the East river, 
in The City of New York', which has here- 
tofore b$en used for the loading and dis- 
charging of sailing vessels regularly em- 
ployed in foreign commerce and havii\g a 
draught of more than eighteen feet of water. 

Storehouses, booths, shops, etc., on 

sheds not authorised. 

Sec. 846. Nothing in the two preceding 
sections contained shall be construed to au- 
thorize the erection or maintenance on any 
pier of any storehouses, booths, shops, or 
other structures than the sheds mentioned 
in the last section but one, with the proper 
doors and gates appertaining thereto, nor to 
impair any powers conferred upon the com- 
missioner of docks, except as provided by 
said section. 

Oflices abolished. 

Sec. 847. The offices of captain of the port 
of New York and of harbor master of the 
port of New York are hereby abolished. The 
dock masters appointed by the commissioner 
of docks of The City of New York, as con- 
stituted by this act, shall be vested with all 
the powers and shall perform all the duties 
conferred or imposed upon the dock mas- 
ters appointed by the commissioner of docks 
of The City of New York, as heretofore 
known aud bounded, by chapter one hundred 
and ninety-nine of the laws of eighteen hun- 
dred and eighty-eight and the - acts amenda- 
tory thereof, and supplementary thereto. 

Dock masters; certain powers of. 

Sec. 848. The dock masters appointed by 
the commissioner of do y cks of The City of 
New York shall be vested With all the powers 
and perform all the duties oonferred - on or 
imposed upon the harbor masters of the port 
of New York by a certain act, entitled, “An 
act to provide for the appointment of a cap- 
tain, of the port of New York, and harbormas- 
ters of the port of New York, and defining 
and regulating the powers and duties and 
compensation *f said officers, and repealing 
chapter four hundred and eighty-seven of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and sixty- 
two,” passed May fourth, eighteen hundred 
aud eighty-three, and known as chapter 
three hundred and fifty-seven of the laws 
of eighteen hundred and eighty-three. Noth- 
ing in this section contained shall entitle the 
said dock masters to any additional com- 
pensation for performing the duties and ex- 
ercising the powers hereby imposed and con- 
ferred. Each of said dock masters shall per- 
sonally perform the duties assigned to him 
by the commissioner of docks. He shall 
not appoint any deputy, or assistant, or dele- 
gate the powers of his office to any person 
or persons whatever. He shall not collect 
any fees except such as are now or may be 
authorized by law, and which shall be speci- 
fied by the commissioner of docks. He shall 
not t^ke or receive directly or indirectly, 
any money, or thing of value, or compensa- 
tion for his services, or on account of the 
exercise of his powers of office, except as now 
provided, or which may hereafter be pro- 
vided, by law and the regulations of the 
commissioner of docks. Any dock master 
violating any of the provisions of this sec- 
tion shall, upon conviction thereof by any 
court of record, be punished by a fine of five 
■hundred dollars, and in addition thereto may, 
in the discretion cff the court, be imprisoned 
in the county Jail for a term not exceeding 
thirty days. 


Removal of obstructions, etc., from 

piers, etc. 

Sec. 849. Whenever any pier, wharf, or bulk- 
■head in The City of New York, shall be 
Incumbered or obstructed in its free use 
by merchandise, or by any material not 
affixed to such pier, wharf, or bulkhead, the 
commissioner of docks is hereby authorized 
to require the owner, oonsignee or person 
in charge of such merchandise or material, 
to remove the same without any unneces- 
sary delay, and the said commissioner shall 
have power, from time to time, to make such 
general rules and regulations and give such 
directions as will secure dispatch in load- 
ing and unloading vessels, and the prompt 
removal of the same from the piers as soon 
as completed, and also such as shall be neces- 
sary to prevent any unnecessary accumula- 
tion of freight or merchandise upon any pier 
or wharf, while any vessel shall be engaged 
in receiving or discharging her cargo; pro- 
vided, however, that the power hereinbefore 
conferred shall not be exercised in refer- 
ence to any obstruction or incumbrance upon 
any pier or wharf occupied by any regular 
line of steamboats or steamships, or by any 
railroad company, except upon the written 
request of the occupant or lessee of such 
pier or wharf. 

Expense of carrying out last section. 

Sec. 850. Whenever the commissioner of 
docks shall make any order or give any di- 
rection in pursuance of the power conferred 
by the last preceding section, it shall be the 
duty of the owner, consignee or person in 
charge of the merchandise, property, or ves- 
sel in reference to which such order or di- 
rection is given, to comply with the same 
without any unreasonable delay, or, in de- 
fault thereof, the said commissioner of docks 
may employ such laborers and assistance as 
may be necessary to carry out such <order or 
direction, by the removal of the material, 
merchandise, or vessel in reference to which 
the same was given; and all expenses actual- 
ly and necessarily incurred in effecting such 
removal shall be paid by the owner, con- 
signee, or person in charge of the mate- 
rial, merchandise, or vessel so removed, and 
the amount thereof shall be a lien upon the 
same in favor of the department of docks, 
and may be enforced in the same manner 
and by fhe same proceedings as liens on 
vessels are enforced by warrant of attach- 
ment, under and pursuant to the provisions 
of the act entitled, “An act to provide for 
the collection of demands against ships and 
vessels,” passed April twenty-fourth, eigh- 
teen hundred and sixty-two, and all the pro- 
visions of said act, so far as the same can 
be made applicable, shall apply to the liens 
hereby created; and the said commissioner 
shall, for the purposes of this section, be 
deemed a creditor of said owner, consignee, 
or person in charge, and each of them, for 
the amount of the expenses so incurred, and 
may have and maintain an action against 
them, or either of them, to recover the same. 

Removal of obstruction, continued. 

Sec. 851. Whenever any pier or bulkhead 
or marginal street, wharf or place in The 
City of New York, shall be incumbered, or 
its free use interfered with by merchandise, 
lumber, trucks, wagons or any other ob- 
struction, whether of loose materials or built 
upon or affixed to the pier or bulkhead or 
marginal street, wharf or place without au- 
thority of law, it shall be the duty of the 
commissioner of docks to notify the person 
or persons placing or keeping such mer- 
chandise or other obstructions on such pier, 
or bulkhead or marginal street, wharf or 
place, to remove such merchandise or other 


obstructions within twenty-four hours after 
such notice, and in case of failure to com- 
ply with such notice and to remove such 
merchandise or obstruction, the person or 
persons so notified shall be liable to pay to 
the commissioner of docks the sum of twen- 
ty-five dollars for each and every day 
during which such merchandise or obstruc- 
tion shall remain on such pier Or bulkhead 
or marginal street, wharf or place. And the 
commissioner of docks shall have power, in 
his discretion, to remove any merchandise, 
lumber, trucks, wagons or any other ob- 
struction so incumbering any pier or bulk- 
head, or marginal street, wharf or place, 
and to store the same in a 'warehouse or 
other proper receptacle, and a sum equal 
to the amount of the expenses of removal, 
together with the charges for storage, shall 
be paid by the owner of such merchandise 
to the commissioner of docks, and shall be 
a lien on such merchandise until paid. 

Storuge ef abstractions. 

Sec. 852. Whenever merchandise discharged 
from a vessel and incumbering a bulkhead 
or pier, in the port of New York, shall not, 
in the judgment of the said commissioner 
of docks, be of sufficient value to pay the 
expenses of removal and storage, as pro- 
vided in the last preceding section, such mer- 
chandise shall be removed and stored at the 
expense of the owner, consignee or master 
of the ship or vessel from which such mer- 
chandise shall have been discharged. 

Unclaimed merchandise to be adver- 
tised. 

Sec. 853. At the expiration of every six 
months it shall be the duty of said com- 
missioner of docks to advertise, for one 
week in the City Record, the merchandise, 
lumber, trucks, wagons or other obstruction 
which they have stored and which has re- 
mained unclaimed, setting forth the mark3 
and numbers of each package or parcel, the 
description of the merchandise, or material, 
the pier whence such meiy:handls<> was re- 
moved, and the date of such removhl, and 
if any of such merchandise or material so ad- 
vertised shall remain thereafter unclaimed 
for three months, said commissioner of docks 
may then sell the same, after further ad- 
vertisement for one week in the City Record 
at public auction, to the highest bidder, to 
pay the expenses which have been incurred 
on such merchandise, lumber, trucks, wagons 
er other obstruction, and the remainder shall 
be held in trust by the said commissioner 
for the owner or owners thereof, for twelve 
months, when, if not claimed, it shall be 
paid over to the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund. 

Canal boats; territory appropriated to. 

Sec. 854. All that part of the water ad- 
jacent to the wharves of The City of New 
York, as heretofore known ind bounded, from 
the west side of pier number three, to and 
including the east side of pier number eight, 
East river, shall hereafter from the twentieth 
day of Marci to the thirty-first day of Decem- 
ber in each year, be set apart, kept, and re- 
served for the exclusive use and accommo- 
dation of canal boats and barges engaged 
in the business of transporting property on 
the Hudson river, or coming to tide water 
from the canals of the state, arriving in said 
city from the city of Albany or any part or 
place north or west thereof, and for the use 
of lighters engaged in loading or unloading 
such boats or barges; and it shall be the 
duty of the commissioner of docks and of all 
officers who now are or hereafter shall be 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


93 


empowered by law, or by any ordinance of 
The City of New York, as constituted by this 
act, to regulate or station ships and vessels 
in the harbor of said city, to prohibit and 
prevent all other boats, ships, or vessels 
from entering any of the slips or approach- 
ing or lying at any of the wharves between 
the piers aforesaid, during the period above 
specified, when such slips or the wharves 
connected therewith shall be required for the 
use and accommodation of the canal boats 
and barges hereinbefore mentioned; and the 
said commissioner of docks, or other officers, 
aforesaid, shall assign such other accommo- 
dations for said canal boats and barges in 
other parts of the port of New York, as may, 
from time to time, be necessary in receiving 
or discharging their cargoes. 

Canal boats; territory appropriated to. 


Sec. 854A. All that part of the water ad- 
jacent to the wharves of the city of New 
York as heretofore known and bounded, 
from and including the north side of pier 
foot of West Fifty-first street to and in- 
cluding south side of pier foot of West 
Fifty-fourth stfeet. North River, shall 
hereafter be set apart, kept and reserved, 
from the twentieth day of March to the 
thirty-first day of December in each year 
for the exclusive use and accommodation 
of canal boats and barges engaged in the 
business of transporting property on the 
Hudson River and for the use of lighters en- 
gaged in loading or unloading such boats 
or barges, and it shall be the duty of the 
commissioner of docks and all officers who 
are now, or who hereafter shall be, em- 
powered by law, or by any ordinance of T£e 
City of New York, to regulate or station 
ships and vessels in the harbor of said city, 
to prohibit and prevent all other boats, 
ships or vessels from entering any of the 
slips, or approaching or lying at any of the 
wharves included in the space aforesaid, 
when such slips or the wharves connected 
therewith shall be required for the use and 
accommodation of the boats and barges 
hereinbefore mentioned; and the piers within 
said space shall not be leased, but shall be 
kept by the city and reserved for the use 
and accommodation of canal* boats and 
barges engaged in transportation on the 
Hudson River; but nothing herein contained 
shall be deemed to change the rates of 
wharfage as now fixed by statute. — Added by 
Laws of 1902, Chapter 546. 

Derricks fop unloading canal boats 
authorised. 


Sec. 855. It shall be lawful for the pro- 
prietors of any regular line of canal boats 
or barges using the waters within the 
limits aforesaid, or any other limits to which 
they may be assigned, as provided in the pre- 
ceding section, to erect and maintain upon 
any of the piers, or wharves adjacent thereto, 
suitable derricks, to be used by said pro- 
prietors and their employes in loading and 
unloading said canal boats and barges; no 
derrick or structure so erected shall be 
deemed an obstruction or incumbrance upon 
such pier or wharf, within the meaning of 
any statute or ordinance prohibiting the in- 
cumbering or obstructing any such pier or 
wharf, or authorizing the removal of ob- 
structions or incumbrances upon the same. 

Occupation of waters by ships not en- 
titled thereto. 


Sec. 856. Whenever any portion of the 
waters mentioned in the last section but one 
shall be occupied by any ship or vessel not 
entitled to occupy the same according to tho 
provisions of that section, and the proprietor 


or proprietors or persons in charge of any 
of the canal boats or barges specified in said 
section, shall desire to use the berth or slip 
occupied by such ship or vessel, it shall be 
the duty of said commissioner of docks, 
upon the request of the proprietor or con- 
signee or person in charge of said canal 
boat or barge forthwith to remove such ship 
or vessel ae far as may be neceesary to ac- 
commodate such canal boat or barge. If the 
said commissioner of docks to whom such 
request is made shall neglect or refuse to 
comply with the same he shall, for each such 
neglect, or refusal, forfeit and pay to the 
proprietor or proprietors of the canal boat 
or barge, in reference to which request was 
made, the sum of fifty dollars, to be sued for 
and recovered by and in the name of such 
proprietor or proprietors, for his or their 
use and benefit in any court of competent 
jurisdiction. 

Failure to remove when ordered; pen- 
alty. 

Sec. 857. Any person in command or in 
charge of any ship or vessel which the Com- 
missioner of dock* is authorized and required 
to remove, as speoifled in ihe last preceding 
section, who shall neglect or refuse to com- 
ply with any order or direction of the said 
commissioner in reference to the removal 
thereof, or who shall resist or obstruct the 
removal of such ship or vessel, shall, for 
every such offense, forfeit and pay the sum 
of fifty dollars, to be sued for and recovered, 
with costs, by and in the name of said de- 
partment of docks in any court of competent 
jurisdiction. 

Certain docks and piers set apart for 

garden produce. 

Sec. 858. The docks, piers and bulkheads 
on the Hudson river from Gansevoort street 
'to Little West Twelfth street, shall be set 
apart by the commissioner of docks, or such 
department as shall have control thereof, 1 
and kept for the use of boats, barges and 
other vessels engaged in the business of 
transporting farm and garden produce, at 
such rates of wharfage as have been, or shall 
be lawfully established, and said commisr 
sioner of docks, or other department, having 
control of said docks, piers and bulkheads 
may, from time to time, when said docks, 
piers or bulkheads are not in actual use for 
the purpose above mentioned, allow the same 
tc be used for other and additional purposes, 
and they are hereby authorized and em- 
powered at any such time to designate and 
appropriate any or all of said docks, piers or 
bulkheads for any public or general use, and 
such designation or appropriation shall be 
subject at any time to revocation by said 
commissioner or department making the 
same. 

Wharfage and dockage rates enumer- 
ated. 

Soc. 859. It shall be lawful to charge and re- - 
ceive, within The City of New York, wharf- 
age and dockage at the following rates, 
namely: From every vessel that uses or 
makes fast to any pier, wharf, or bulkhead, 
within said city or makeS fast to any vessel 
lying at such pier, wharf, or bulkhead, or to 
any other vessel lying outside of such vessel, 
for every day or part of a day except as 
hereinafter provided, as follows: From every 
vessel of two hundred tons burden and 
under, two cents per ton; and for every 
vessel over two hundred tons burden, two 
cents per ton for each of the first two hun- 
dred tons burden, and one-half of one cent 
per ton for every additional ton, except that, 


save as hereinafter provided, vessels known 
as North river barges, market boats and 
barges, sloops employed upon the river* and 
waters of this state, and schooners exclu- 
sively employed upon the rivers and water* 
of this state shall pay for every such vessel 
under the burden of fifty tons, at the rate 
of fifty cents per day; for every such vessel 
of the burden of fifty tons, and under the 
burden of one hundred tons, at tile rate of 
sixty-two and a half cents per day; for every 
such vessel of the burden of one hundred 
tons, and under the burden of one hundred 
and fifty tons, at the rate of seventy-five 
cents per day; for every such vessel of the 
burden of one hundred and fifty tons, and 
under the burden of two huhdred tons, at the 
rate of eighty-seven and a half cents per day; 
and for every such vessel of the burden of 
two hundred tons, and under the burden of 
two hundred and fifty tons, at the rate of 
one hundred cetfts per day; for every such 
vessel of the burden of two hundred and 
fifty tons, and under the burden of three 
hundred tons, at the rate of one hundred and 
twelve and a half cents per day; for every 
such vessel of the burden of three hundred 
tons, and under the burden of three hundred 
and fifty tons, at the rate of one hundred and 
twenty-five cents per day; for every such ves- 
sel of the burden of three hundred and fifty 
tons, and under the burden, of four hundred 
tons, at the rate of one hundred ahd thirty- 
seven and a half cents per day; for every 
such vessel of the burden of four hvyidred 
tons and under the burden of four hundred and 
fifty tons, at the rate of one hundred and fifty 
cents per day; for every such vessel of 
the burden of four hundred and fifty tons, 
and under the burden of five hundred tons, 
at tho rate of one hundred and sixty-two and 
a half cents per day; for every such vessel 
of the burden of five hundred tons, and under 
the burden of five hundred and fifty tons, 
at the rate of one hundred and seventy-five 
cents per day; for every such vessel of the 
lyirden of five hundred and fifty tons, and un- 
der the burden of six hundred tons, at the 
rate of one hundred and eighty-seven and 
one- half cents per d*y; for every such vessel 
of the burden of six hundred tons and up- 
wards, to pay twelve and a half cents, in ad- 
dition for every fifty tons in addition to the 
rate last mentioned, for every day such ship 
or vessel shall use or be made fast to any of 
said wharves; but no boat or vessel over 
fifty tens burden shall pay less than fifty 
cents for a day or a part of a day, and tho 
class of sailing vessels now known as light- 
ers shall be at one-half the first above rates. 
Every other vessel making fast to a vessel 
at any pier, wharf, or bulkhead within said 
city, or to another vessel outside of such 
vessel, or at an anchor within any slip oi 
basin, when not receiving or discharging 
cargo or ballast, one-half of the first above 
rates; and from every vessel or floating struc- 
ture, other than those above named, or used 
for transportation of freight or passengers, 
double the first above rates, except that float- 
ing grain elevators shall pay one-half the 
first above rates; ind every vessel that shall 
leave a pier, wharf, bulkhead, slip or basin, 
without first paying the wharfage or dockage 
due thereon, after being demanded of the 
owner, consignee, or person in charge of the 
vessel, shall be liable to pay double the rates 
established by this section. 

Id.; on vessels in clam or oyster trade. 

Sec. 860. Vessels o‘f two hundred tons bur- 
den, and under, w'hich shall be actually en- 
gaged in the clam or oyster trade, and 
which shall make fast to any pier, wharf or 
bulkhead within The City of New York, shall 


94 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


pay one and one-half cents per ton per day, 
and every such vessel which shall make fast 
to another vessel lying at any such pier, 
wharf or bulkhead, or to any vessel lying out- 
side of such vessel, or that shall anchor with- 
in any slip or basin in said city shall pay 
one cent per ton per day; provided, however, 
that no vessel shall pay less than twenty-five 
cents nor less than one day’s wharfage, nor 
shall more than one day’s wharfage be 
charged unless for a continuous use of the 
pier, wharf, bulkhead, slip or basin of more 
than twenty-four hours. The commissioner 
of docks may grant permits for vessels or 
floating structures engaged in the oysUr 
business, and used for the receipt, prepara- 
tion and opening of oysters and other shell- 
fish to remain continuously moored to or at 
any of the docks, piers and bulkheads within 
The City of New York, not otherwise specific- 
ally appropriated by law to the sole use of 
other kinds of commerce, upon such terms 
as to wharfage and otherwise, and subject to 
suoh regulations as said commissioner may 
prescribe. All permits so granted by such 
commissioner shall be subjected at any time 
to revocation by it. Upon any such permit 
being granted the person or persons, or cor- 
poration receiving the same, shall be entitled 
to moor such vessels or floating structures, 
continuously and until such permit shall be 
revoked, to or at the dock, pier or bulkhead 
designated in such permit for that purpose 
subject to the terms of such permit; provided, 
however, that where The City of New York 
is not the owner of the dock, pier or bulk- 
head designated in such permit, the consent 
of the owner or owners of the same, or of 
the person or persons entitled to collect 
wharfage therefrom, shall have been ob- 
tained. 

Id.f canal boats and vessels carrying 

brick. 

Sec. 861. Every canal boat and every ves- 
sel engaged in freighting brick on the Hud- 
son river occupying a berth next to any pier, 
wharf, or bulkhead in The City of New York, 
and engaged in delivering cargo upon said 
pier, wharf, or bulkhead, or receiving cargo 
therefrom, shall pay wharfage at the rate of 
fifty cents for every day or part of a day 
while so engaged; but when unloaded such 
canal boats or vessels aforesaid shall pay 
wharfage at the rate of thirty cents *per day 
or part thereof; but no canal boat or vessel 
lying in any slip between two adjacent piers 
shall be required to pay full wharfage to the 
owners or lessees of both said piers for the 
same day, notwithstanding such canal boat 
or barge may, during said day, have changed 
her location between said piers; provided that 
they shall pay one-half rates to each owner 
or lessee when they have changed their loca- 
tions between said piers; and the word "day,” 
whenever it occurs in this and the last pre- 
ceding section, shall be taken and construed 
to mean twenty-four hours. 

Rate* for gootb, etc., remaining on 

nicr or wharf. 

Sec. 862. It shfll be lawful for the owners 
or lessees of any pier, wharf, or bulkhead 
within The City of New York, to charge and 
collect the sum of five cents per ton on ail 
goods, merchandise, and materials remaining 
on the pier, wharf, or bulkhead owned o: 
leased by him, for every day after the expira- 
tion of twenty-four hours from the time such 
goods, merchandise, and materials shall have 
been left or deposited on such pier, wharf, or 
bulkhead, and the same shall be a lien ther^ 
on. 

Rates to be printed in wharfage bills. 

Sec. 863. It shall be the duty of every per- 
son owning or having charge of any pier. 


wharf, bulkhead, or slip in The City of New 
York, to cause to be printed on the back of 
all bills, presented by them for wharfage, sec- 
tion eight hundred and fifty-nine of this act, 
and the owner, consignee, or person in charge 
of any vessel shall not be required to pay 
the wharfage or dockage due on such vessel, 
unless upon his demand the bill printed in 
conformity with this section is presented 
to him. Any person owning or hav- 
ing charge of any pier, wharf, bulkhead, 
or slip as aforesaid, who shall receive for 
wharfage any rates in excess of those now 
authorized by law, shall forfeit to the party 
aggrieved treble the amount so charged as 
damages, to be sued for and recovered by the 
party aggrieved. 

What waters Inolndcd In port of New 

York. 

Sec. 864. The port of New York, wherever 
the same is mentioned or referred to in this 
chapter, shall be deemed and taken to in- 
clude, unless otherwise expressly stated, all 
the waters of the North river and East river 
and the harbor embraced within or adjacent 
to or opposite to the shores of The City of 
New York, as constituted by this act. 

Additional accommodations for canal 

boats. 

Sec. 865. The commissioner of docks shall, 
in addition to the piers and waters especially 
assigned thereto by law, assign such accom- 
modations for canal boats and barges engaged 
in the business of transporting property on 
the Hudson river, or coming to tide water 
from the canals of the state, or arriving in 
said port from Albany or any place north or 
west thereof, as may from time to time be 
necessary in receiving and discharging their 
cargoes. 

Penalty for vessels wrongfully enter- 
ing canal boat territory. 

Sec. 866. No vessel, other than canal boats, 
barges or lighters receiving or delivering 
property from or to said canal boats or 
barges, shall use or enter into for the purpose 
of using any part of the port of New York 
set apart for the use of canal boats and 
barges without the written consent of the 
commissioner of docks had and obtained 
therefor, and then only between the first day 
of January and twentieth day of March in 
each year, and when not occupied by canal 
beats, under a penalty of one hundred dol- 
lars for every day that such vessel shall re- 
main in said part of said port so set apart 
after being notified to leave by the said com- 
missioner and said penalty shall be a lien 
upon any such vessel, and be enforced by pro- 
ceedings against it, instituted by and in the 
name of the said department of docks, ac- 
cording to the provisions of the laws of this 
state concerning attachments against ves- 
sels. 

Powers of dock masters to assign and 

regulate stations for vessels; penal- 
ty for refusing to obey direction. 

Sec. 867. Each dock master appointed by 
the commissioner of docks shall have power, 
within the district assigned to him, subject 
to the other provisions of this act, to pro- 
vide and assign suitable accommodations for 
all ships and vessels, and regulate them in 
the stations they are to occupy at the 
wharves or in the stream, and to remove from 
time to time such vessels as are not employed 
in receiving or discharging their cargoes, to 
make room for such others as require to bo 
more immediately accommodated for the pur- 
pose of receiving or discharging their cargoes, 
and shall have power to determine as to the 
fact of their being fairly and in good faith 


employed in receiving and discharging 
their cargoes, and shall have authority to 
determine how far and in what instance it is 
the duty of the master and others having 
charge of ships and vessels to accommodate 
each other In their respective situations. 
And if any master or any person having 
charge of any vessel, canal boat, barge or 
lighter, shall refuse or neglect to move his 
vessel, canal boat, barge or lighter, when 
ordered to do so by a dock master, or shall 
resist or forcibly oppose said officer in the 
discharge of his duties, such master or per- 
sons so refusing, neglecting, resisting or op- 
posing, shall, for every offense, forfeit and 
pay the sum of fifty dollars to be recovered 
with costs of suit, by and in the name of the 
department of docks before any court having 
cognizance thereof. 

False personation of dock masters. 

Sec. 868. Any person who shall falsely rep- 
resent himself to be a dock master, or wrong- 
fully perform the duties of dock master, shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon 
conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in 
the county jail for a term not exceeding 
sixty days, and fined, In the discretion of 
the court, a sum not exceeding twenty-five 
dollars. 

Violations to be reported. 

Sec. 869. It shall be the duty of the dock 
masters appointed by the commissioner of 
docks to report to said commissioner all vio- 
lations of any of the provisions of this chap 
ter, and of the rules and regulations of the 
commissioner of docks which may come to 
the knowledge of said dock masters, or 
which may be known to them by complaint 
or otherwise. 

Floating; docks authorized. 

Sec. 870. It shall be lawful for the floating 
docks of the New York Balance Dock Com- 
pany and of the New York Floating Dry 
Dock Company, to be used, with the consent 
of the owners of the piers or bulkheads, re- 
spectively occupied for such use, or of the 
persons entitled to collect wharfage for such 
piers or bulkheads, for the purpose of taking 
up ships and vessels for repair, coppering 
or finishing, in the manner heretofore prac- 
ticed in the port of New York, subject to the 
authority established by this act to regulate 
by ordinance the use of the slips, piers and 
wharves of The City of New York. 

TITLE 3. 

GENERAL, PROVISIONS. 

Grants of land under water restricted 

See. 876. No grants of land under water 
shall be made by the board of aldermen 
of The City of New York, or by any officer, 
board, or department thereof, beyond the 
exterior lines of The City of New York, as 
fixed by an act of the legislature, passed 
April seventeenth, eighteen hundred and 
fifty-seven, entitled "An act to establish bulk- 
head and pier lines for the port of New 
York," as amended by subsequent act, unless 
as expressly authorized by acts passed sub- 
sequent thereto. 

Time for improving; lands adjacent to 

wnter on Harlem river. 

Sec. 877. The period of time fixed for the 
appropriation to the purposes of commerce 
by the construction of a dock or docks, and 
filling in the same, in all letters patent issued 
by the people of the state of New York to 
the owners of the adjacent upland for lands 
under water and between high and low watef 
mark in front of and adjjicent to the lands 
of the said owners of the adjacent upland on 


rm CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


95 


the easterly shore of the Harlem river, is 
extended until two years after the time when 
plans for the improvement of said river 
shall have been or shall be completed by 
the proper authorities, and copies of such 
plans, filed, one in the office of the register 
of the county of New York, and one in the 
office of the secretary of state at Albany. 
Damiiing snow and ice from piers. 

Sec. 878. It shall be lawful for the commis- 
sioner of street cleaning to cause to be 
dumped, or authorize to be dumped, snow 
and ice between the piers near their in- 
shore ends, into the waters of the East and 
North or Hudson rivers. 

Injnrics to vessels lying; at exterior 
end of wharf. 

Sec. 879. It shall not be lawful for any ves- 
sel, canal boat, barge, lighter or tug to ob- 
struct the waters of the harbor by lying at 
the exterior end of wharves in the waters 
of the North or East river, except at their 
own risk of injury from vessels entering 
or leaving any adjacent dock or pier; any 
vessel, canal boat, barge, lighter or tug so 
lying shall not be entitled to claim or demand 
damages for any injury caused by any vessel 
entering or leaving any adjacent pier. 

Certain substances not to be dumped 
in port of New York. 

Sec. 880. The placing, discharging or de- 
positing, by any process or in any manner, 
of refuse, dirt, ashes, cinders, mud, sand, 
dredgings, sludge acid, or any other refuse 
matter, floatable or otherwise, in the tidal 
waters of the port of New York as defined by 
this act, except under permit of the United 
States supervisor of the harbor, is hereby 
strictly forbidden, and every person violat- 
ing the foregoing provisions shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction 
thereof shall be punished by a fine of not 
more than two hundred and fifty dollars nor 
less than five dollars, or imprisonment for not 
more than six months nor less than ten 
days, one-half of said fine to be paid to the 
person or persons giving information which 
shall lead to the conviction of such misde- 
meanor. 

Scows to receive ashes, etc., from 
steam tugs and vessels. 

Sec. 881, The various scows employed by 
The City of New York, or by the contract- 
ors for removing ashes, garbage and refuse 
of said city, while moored at the various 
dumping boards of said city are hereby des- 
ignated and required to receive directly 
any and all ashes or rubbish from any 
steam tug or vessel in the harbor, and 
in addition to the foregoing provisions two 
or more scows shall be located at such 
points within the harbor as the su- 
pervisor of the harbor may direct 
for the special use of boats and vessels wish- 
ing to discharge ashes or rubbish. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS. 

Title 1. Department of taxes and assess- 
ments; powers and duties. 

Title 2. Assessments for local improve- 
ments other than those confirmed by a court 
of record. 

Title 3. Vacating and modifying assess- 
ments for local improvements other than 
those confirmed by a court of record. 

Title 4. Opening streets and parks. 

Title 5. Sale of lands for taxes, assess- 
ments and water rates. 

TITLE 1. 

DEPARTMENT OF' TAXES AND ASSESS- 
MENTS, POWERS AND DUTIES. 

One of the departments of the city. 
Sec. 884. The department of taxes and as- ' 


sessments shall be one of the departments 
in said city. 

Department, how composed | terms and 

salaries. 

Sec. 885. The head of the department of 
taxes and assessments shall be called the 
board of taxes and assessments. Said board 
shall consist of a president, who shall be 
designated in his appointment, and four 
other persons, one of whom at least shall be 
a person learned in the law', who shall be 
called commissioners of taxes and assess- 
ments. The salary of the president shall be 
eight thousand dollars a year, and the salary 
of each of the other commissioners seven 
thousand dollars a year. 

Devolution of power. 

Sec. 886. All of the rights, powers and 
duties heretofore devolved by law upon the 
board of taxes and assessments in The City 
of New York, upon the department of as- 
sessments of the city of Brooklyn, and upon 
like departments, boards or officers of taxes 
and assessments other than for street im- 
provements in the other municipal and pub- 
lic corporations or parts of municipal and pub- 
lic corporations consolidated by this act with 
the municipal corporation known as the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of The City 
of New York are hereby devolved, unless 
otherwise herein expressly provided, upon 
and vested in the board of taxes and assess- 
ments in The City of New York. 

Deputy tax commissioners t low ap- 
pointed; their duties. 

Sec. 887. The board of taxes and assess- 
ments shall appoint persons to be known 
as deputy tax commisssioners, not exceed- 
ing forty in number, who shall perform, un- 
der the direction and supervision of the 
board of taxes and assessments, such duties 
as the said board shall prescribe. The said 
board shall give such directions to the dep- 
uty tax commissioners as it shall think ex- 
pedient to secure jn all the boroughs and 
parts of the city equality of valuations of 
property for the purpose of taxation. The 
number of deputy tax commissioners above 
prescribed may from time to time be in- 
creased by the appointment of the board of 
taxes and assessments, provided such in- 
crease is authorized by the board of estimate 
and apportionment. 

Appointment of deputy tax commis- 
sioners among the boroughs. 

Sec. 888. In making the appointment of the 
deputy tax commissioners the head of the 
department of taxes and assessments shall 
apportion such appointments as nearly as 
may be, among persons residing in the sev- 
eral boroughs created by this act, according 
to the population of the several boroughs; 
and after the first day of January, nineteen 
hundred and two, no person shall be appoint- 
ed to the office of deputy tax commissioner 
unless he shall be at the time he is appoint- 
ed and shall have been for at least one year 
prior thereto an elector and freeholder in 
the borough from which he is appointed. 
No deputy tax commissioner shall be assign- 
ed to assess property in any other borough 
than that from which he is appointed, except 
by the unanimous vote of all the members 
of the board of taxes and assessments, and 
in that case the reasons for such assignment 
shall be stated in the minutes of the board. 

Deputy tax commi#slonfr»! duties of In 

assessing taxable property. 

Sec. 889. It shall be the duty of the deputy 
tax commissioners, under the direction of 
the board of taxes and assessments, to as- 


sess all the taxable property in the several 
districts that may be assigned to them for 
that purpose by said board, and they shall 
furnish to the said board, under oath, a de- 
tailed statement of all such property, show- 
ing that said deputies have personally exam- 
ined each and every house, building, lot, pier, 
or other assessable property, giving the 
street, lot, ward town and map number of 
such real estate embraced within said dis- 
tricts, together with the name of the owner 
or occupant, if known; also the sum for 
which, in their judgment, each separately 
assessed parcel of real estate under ordinary 
circumstances would sell if it were wholly 
unimproved; and separately stated, the sum 
for which under ordinary circumstances, the 
same parcel of real estate would sell with 
the improvements, if any, thereon; with 
such other information in detail relative to 
personal property or otherwise, as the said 
board may, from time to time require. Such 
deputies shall commence to assess real and 
personal estate on the first Tuesday of Sep- 
tember in each and every year. — As amended 
by Laws of 1903, Chapter 454. 

Offices of the department in the bor- 
oughs. 

Sec. 890. There shall be an office of the de- 
partment of taxes and assessments in tho 
borough of Brooklyn, a like office of the de- 
partment in the borough of Queens, a like 
office of the department in the borough of 
Richmond, and a like office of the department 
in the borough of The Bronx; at which the 
duties of the department of taxes and assess- 
ments pertaining to the assessment of prop- 
erty in the said several boroughs shall, un- 
der the direction of the board of taxes and 
assessments, be performed by such number 
of the deputy tax commissioners or other 
employes of the department of taxes and as- 
sessments as the said department may de- 
cide to be necessary and assign to such du- 
ties. Such offices shall in law be a part of 
the main office, and the main office of the de- 
partment of taxes and assessments shall be 
maintained in the borough of Manhattan. 
The books, maps, assessment rolls, files and 
records pertaining to the department of taxes 
and assessments of the municipality hereto- 
fore designated as the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of the City of New York, of the 
department of assessment of the city of 
Brooklyn and of each and every of the like 
offices in any of the municipal and public 
corporations, or parts of municipal and pub- 
lic corporations consolidated by this act with 
the municipal corporation of the mayor, al- 
dermen and commonalty of the city of New 
York, shall be delivered into and thereafter 
be in the custody and control of the depart- 
ment of taxes and assessments hereby con- 
stituted, to be kept in such of the offices of 
the said department as may be most con- 
venient to the taxpayers and suitable to the 
proper discharge of the business of such de- 
partment, and shall be public records, and at 
all reasonable times open to public inspec- 
tion. 

Surveyor. 

Sec. 891. The said department of taxes and 
assessments shall appoint a surveyor from 
one of the city surveyors, whose duty it shall 
be to make necessary surveys and corrections 
of the ward maps, and also to make all new 
maps which may be required for the more 
accurate assessment of real estate within the 
territory consolidated by this act with the 
municipal corporation known as the mayor, 
aldermen and commonalty of the city of New 
York. He shall hold his office at the pleas- 
ure of the department of taxes and assess- 


96 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


ments, and may have such assistants as the 
said department may decide to be necessary 
and provide. 

Annnal record of assessed -valuation! 

what to contain and when to be open 

for examlnntlpjt and correction. 

Sec. 892. There shall be kept in the several 
offices established by the department of taxes 
and assessments hpoks to be called “the an- 
nual record of the assessed valuation of real 

and personal estate of the borough of in 

which shall be entered in detail the^ssessed 
valuation of such property within the limits 
of the several boroughs of the City of New 
York as established by this act. In such 
books the assessed value of real estate shall 
be set down in two columns; in the first col- 
umn shall be given, opposite each separately 
assessed parcel of real estate, the sum for 
which such parcel under ordinary circum- 
stances, would sell if wholly unimproved; and 
in the second column shall be set down the 
sum for which the said parcel under ordinary 
circumstances, would sell, with the improve- 
ments, if any, thereon. The said books 
shall be open for public inspection, ex- 
amination and correction from the second 
Monday in January until the first day of 
April in each year; but on said last mention- 
ed day the same shall be closed to enable the 
board of taxes and assessments to prepare 
assessment rolls of the several boroughs for 
delivery to the board of aldermen. The said 
board previous to and during the time the 
said books are open as aforesaid for inspec- 
tion shall advertise the fact in the City Rec- 
ord and in such other newspaper or newspa- 
pers published in the several boroughs creat- 
ed by this act as may be authorized by the 
board of city record.— As amended by Laws 
of 1903, Chapter 454. 

Annnal record of assessed valuation 

of real and personal estate of corpor- 
ations to be kept In main office. 

See. 893. The department of taxes and as- 
sessments shall cause to be prepared and kept 
in the main office of the department of t^xes 
and aseessments, books to be called “The an- 
nual record of the assessed valuations of real 
and personal estate of corporations,” and it 
shall be the duty of the deputy tax commis- 
sioners in the several districts in the several 
boroughs which m*y be assigned to them for 
that purpose by the hoard of taxes and as- 
sessments, to furnish to the department of 
taxes and assessments, under oath at their 
main office, at the time that such statement 
is filed in any office of the department of tax- 
es and assessments in any borough other than 
in the main office in the borough of Manhat- 
tan, a duplicate detailed statement of the 
assessable property of corporations, both 
real and personal, which said statements of 
said deputy tax commissioners shall be en- 
tered upon the books to be kept in the main 
office of the department of taxee and assess- 
ments to be known as the “annual record of 
the assessed valuation of real and personal 
estate of corporations.” 

Assessed valuation of personal proper- 
ty; how to be entered. 

Sec. 894. The assessed valuation of all per- 
sonal property ohall be entered by said depu- 
ty tax commissioners, or by such other per- 
sons as may be assigned to that duty by the 
department of taxes and assessments in its 
several offices, in books, or rolls, in alphabet- 
ical order, of the names of persons and cor- 
porations subject to taxation. No tax or as- 
sessment shall be void by reason of the name 
of the rightful owner or owners, whether in- 
dividuals or corporations, of real estate in 
any e£ the said boroughs not being inscribed 


in the assessment rolls or lists; but in euch 
case no tax shall be collected except from 
the real estate so assessed. The assessed 
valuation of all real and personal property of 
corporations shall be entered in duplicate 
in the office in the borough .here the same 
is assessed and in the main office of the 
department of taxes and assessments 
in the borough of Manhattan. If, at 
any time prior to the first day of May in any 
year, it shall appear to the tax commissioner 
that a person assessed for taxation on per- 
sonal estate on the books or rolls of one bor- 
ough should have been assessed therefor on 
the books or rolls of another borough, they 
shall forthwith cause the assessment to be 
cancelled and a new assessment to be made 
on the proper books or fplls, and within five 
days thereafter shall cause written notice^ of 
the new assessment to be mailed to such 
person at his last known residence or busi- 
ness address within The City of\ New York, 
and an affidavit of the mailing of such no- 
tice to be filed in the main office. The per- 
son so notified may apply for correction of 
such assessment on or before the twentieth 
day of May, with the same force and effect 
as if such application were made on or be- 
fore the thirty-first day of March in any 
year. 

Applications for correction of assess- 
ment. 

Sec. 895. During the time that books shall 
be open to public inspection as aforesaid ap- 
plication may bo made by any person or cor- 
poration claiming to be aggrieved by the 
assessed valuation of real or personal estate, 
to have the same corrected. If such appii-V 
cation be made in relation to the assessed 
valuation of real estate, it must be made in, 
writing, stating the ground of objection 
thereto. The board of taxes and assessments 
shall examine into the complaint, as herein 
provided, and if m their judgment the as- 
sessment is erroneous they shall cause the 
same to be corrected. If such application be 
made in relation to the assessed valuation of 
personal estate, the applicant shall be ex- 
amined under oath by a commissioner of 
taxes and assessments or a deputy tax com- 
missioner, as herein provided, who are here- 
by authorized to administer such oath, and 
if the assessment as hereinafter provided be 
determined by the board of taxes and assess- 
ments to be erroneous, it shall cause the 
same to be corrected and fix the amount of 
such assessment as the board of taxes and 
assessments may believe to be just, and de- 
clare its decision upon such application within 
the time and in the manner hereinafter pro- 
vided. But the commissioners of taxes and 
assessments may, during the months of April 
and May in any year, act upon applications, 
examine applicants under oath and take. other 
testimony thereon, for the reduction of as- 
sessments upon either real or personal prop- 
erty filed in their offices on or before the 
thirty-first day of March preceding, and 
cause the amount of any assessment as cor- 
rected by the board of taxes and assessments 
to be entered upon the assessment rolls for 
the year in which such correction may be 
made. 

When assessed valuation may be in- 
creased or diminished. 

Sec. 896. The board of taxes and assess- 
ments may increase at any time before the 
firat day of April in each year, or may di- 
minish at any time before the closing of the 
books of “annual record” on the first day of 
April in each year, the assessed valuation 
of any real or personal estate of any indi- 
j vidual or corporation, as in its judgment may 
be just or necessary for the equalization of 


taxation; but it shall not increase sueh valu- 
ations of the property of any individual or 
corporation after said books are opened for 
correction and review, except upon notice 
given to the individual or corporation af- 
fected by such increase at least ten days be- 
fore the fifteenth day of April in each year. 

Power of the board to remit or reduce 

a tnx. 

Sec. 897. The board of taxes and assess- 
ments is hereby invested with power to 
remit or reduce where in the opinion of the 
corporation counsel lawful cause therefor is 
shown. It may remit or reduce if found ex- 
cessive or erroneous a tax imposed upon real 
or personal property. It shall require a 
majority of the commissioners of taxes and 
assessments to remit or reduce the assessed 
valuation of personal property, sfnd no tax 
on personal property shall be remitted, can- 
celed or reduced unless the person aggrieved 
shall satisfy the board of taxes and assess- 
ments that illness or absence from the city 
had prevented the filing of the complaint or 
making the application to the said board 
within the time allowed by law for the cor- 
rection of taxes. Any remission or reduc- 
tion of taxes upon the real estate of indi- 
viduals or corporations must be made within 
one year after the delivery of the books to 
the receiver of taxes for the collection of 
sueh tax. — As amended by Laws of 1902, 
jChapter 192. 

Applications tor revision and cancel- 
lation of assessment in the several 

boroughs; when and how made. 

Sec. 898. The board of taxes and assess- 
ments from the whole number of persons ap- 
pointed as deputy tax commissioners shall for 
each of the boroughs wherein one of the of- 
fices of the department of taxes and assess- 
ments is established and maintained desig- 
nate one or more deputy tax eommissioners, 
who shall, between the second Monday of 
January in each year and the first day of 
April following, receive applications for the 
revision and cancellation of any assessments 
entered in the books of annual record of the 
assessed valuation of real and personal es- 
tate in that borough, take testimony on such 
applications and reduce the same to writing, 
and when so reduced to writing transmit such 
applications and testimony, with his recom- 
mendation, to the board of taxes and assess- 
ments at their main office, in the borough 
of Manhattan, or to any office of the depart- 
ment of taxes in any borough as the board of 
taxes and assessments may prescribe. Such 
deputy tax commissioners as may be desig- 
nated for the purposes and as prescribed in 
this section, are hereby authorized between 
the second Monday of January and the first 
day of April to administer oaths for the pur- 
pose of taking testimony upon all applica- 
tions for the revision or cancellation of as- 
sessments, and they are hereby required and 
directed to transmit the evidence so taken 
and reduced to writing, within ten days after 
the evidence upon any application is taken, 
with their recommendation, as hereinbefore 
described. The board of taxes and assess- 
ments shall hear at their main office all ap- 
plications of corporations for revision and 
cancellation of assessments; and as to all 
other applications, the said board may 
prescribe the time and place of hearing 
thereof in the several borough's and give 
such public notice thereof in the City Rec- 
ord and in at least one newspaper in each 
borough as they may designate, anc^tlie board 
may make such rules and regulations as may 
be appropriate and expedient to the end that 
the taxpayers of each borough other than 
corporations, may have a hearing in the 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


borough in which they reside or in which 
their property assessed is situated. All 
testimony taken by the board of taxes and 
assessments by any commissioner or by dep- 
uty tax commissioners as herein prescribed, 
shall be reduced to writing and shall con- 
stitute part of the record of the proceed- 
ings upon any assessment. The decision of 
the board of taxes and assessments, upon 
any application for -the revision, reduction 
or cancellation of any assessment and upon 
the evidence taken thereunder, shall, where 
the evidence is taken by the board of taxes 
and assessments be rendered within thirty 
days after the hearing upon such applica- 
tion is closed, and in no case later than the 
first day of June. And where the evidence 
upon any application is taken by any com- 
missioner or a deputy tax commissioner, the 
determination of the board of taxes and 
assessments shall be rendered within thirty 
days after the application and the testi- 
mony thereunder shall have been filed with 
the board of taxes and assessments, at the 
main office of the department in the borough 
of Manhattan, and in no case later than the 
first day of June. 

Deputy tax commissioners to make up 
aggregate amount of assessed valua- 
tion In the borongh*. 

Sec. 899. It is hereby declared to be the 
duty of the deputy tax commissioners, or'of 
such other persons as may have been as- 
signed to the charge and direction of any one 
of the offices of the department of taxes and 
assessments in tho several boroughs, to com- 
pute from the annual record of the assessed 
valuations of real and personal estate Ju 
each of the ^aid several offices, the 
total aggregate amount of the assessed 
valuation or real and personal property ap- 
pearing on said books for each of the said 
boroughs on the second Monday of January 
in any year, and to transmit a statement of 
such aggregate amounts of assessed valua- 
tions of real and personal property in the 
said several boroughs to the department of 
taxes and assessments at their main office 
in the borough of Manhattan on or before 
the second Monday of January in each year. 
The board of taxes and assessments are 
hereby invested with the power and charged 
with the duty before opening the books for 
the public inspection as herein prescribed, 
to fix such valuations of property for the 
purposes of taxation throughout The City 
of New York at such sums as will, in their 
Judgment, establish a just and equal rela- 
tion between the valuations of property in 
each borough and throughout dhe entire city. 
To this end the board of taxes and assess- 
ments is authorized to require the deputy 
tax commissioners to transmit a report to 
them of the assessed valuation of .real and 
personal proi erty in the several boroughs 
at such time prior to the second Monday of 
January in each year as the board of taxes 
and assessments may prescribe. 

Comptroller to submit to board of al- 
dermen a statement showing tlie 
amounts necessary to be raised. 

Sec. 900. It. shall be the duty of the comp- 
troller of said city to prepare and submit 
to the board of aldermen, at least four 
weeks before its annual meeting in each and 
every year for the purpose of imposing the 
annual taxes, a statement setting forth the 
amounts by law authorized to be raised by 
tax in that year, on account of the corpora- 
tion of The City ef New York, as hereby 
constituted, or for city purposes within said 
city as created by this act, and purposes for 
which said city is liable, and on account of 
the counties of New York, Kings, Queens 
and Richmond and also an estimate of the 
probable amount of receipts into tbs city 


treasury during the then current year from 
all the sources of revenue of the general 
funds. Including surplus revenue from the 
sinking funds of the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of the city of New York and of 
any of the municipal and public corpora- 
tions, or parts of municipal and public cor- 
porations, by this act consolidated with the 
municipal corporation known as the mayor, 
aldermen and commonalty of the city of New 
York, other than the surplus of revenues of 
any such sinking funds for the payment of 
interest on the city debt of the municipal 
corporation known as the mayor, aldermen 
and commonalty of the city of New York, or 
the like debts of the municipal and public 
corporations by this act consolidated as 
aforesaid, and the said board of aldermen is 
hereby authorized and directed to deduct the 
total amount of such estimated receipts from 
the aggregate amount of all the various sums 
which, by law, they are required to order and 
cause to be raised by tax in said year, for 
the purposes aforesaid, and to cause to be 
raised by tax only the balance of such aggre- 
gate amount after making sueh deductions. 

How county charges unit expenses In 

New York, Kings, Queens and Rich- 
mond counties are to he paid. 

Sec. 902. In the statement submitted by 
the comptroller to the board of aldermen, 
as above provided in this chapter, he shall 
each year include and s^tate specifically the 
sum or sums necessarj f to be raised to pay 
during the current year tjie salaries of the 
county officers and the other county charges 
and expenses in the counties of New 
York, Kings, Queens and Richmond, re- 
spectively, and the board of aldermen 
is hereby authorized and directed to levy 
upqn and collect £rom the taxable prop- 
erty within each of said counties, respec- 
tively, the sum or sums so necessary to be 
raised to pay the salaries of county officers 
and other couifty charges and expenses of 
such county; to the end that, each of said 
counties shall ultimately bear and pay all 
expenses necessary to be incurred within the 
county for county as distinguished from city 
purposes. 

Permits for buildings, etc.! copies to 

l»e sent to tlie department of taxes 

and assessments. 

Sec. 903. Whenever any permit shall be 
granted by the proper officer of the city gov- 
ernment as created by this act for the erection 
of any building, pier or bulkhead within said 
city, a copy of such permit shall be within 
five days after its issue furnished by the 
officer granting the same to the department of 
taxes and assessments. 

Exemptions. 

Sec. 904. The exemption from taxation of 
every building for public worship, and every/ 
schoolhouse or other seminary of learning 
under the provisions of section four of the 
tax law, being chapter nine hundred and 
eight of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-six, shall not apply to any such build- 
ing or premises within the limits of The City 
of New York, as defined by this act, unless the 
same shall be exclusively used for such pur- 
pose, and be exclusively the property of a 
religious society. 

Exemptions, continued. 

Sec. 905. Nothing in this chapter shall affect 
any existing and valid exemptions from taxa- 
tion heretofore created by law respecting any' 
property, real or personal, within the limits 
of The City of New York, as constituted by 
this act; and where by pre-existing laws 
stock and bonds of any of the ipunicipalities 
hereby consolidated were heretofore exempt 
withiij such municipalities from local taxa- 


97 


tion, the said stocks or bonds shall be exempt 
from all taxation by the said city of New 
York except for state purposes. — As amended 
by Laws of 1903, Chapter 210. 

Certiorari to review final determina- 
tion of the department. 

Sec. 906. A certiorari to review or correct 
on the merits any final determination of the 
board of ta^es and assessment's shall be al- 
lowed by the supreme court or any justico 
thereof, directed to the commissioners of 
taxes and assessments on the verified peti- 
tion of the party aggrieved, but only on the 
grounds which must be specified in such pe- 
tition, that the assessment is illegal, and 
giving the particulars of the alleged illegality, 
or is erroneous l}y reason of over valuation, 
oh in case of re^.1 estate, that the same is 
erroneous by reason of Inequality, in that the 
assessment has been made at a higher pro- 
portionate valuation than the assessment of 
other real dstate of like character in the 
same ward or section or other real estate on 
the tax-rolls of the city for the same year, 
specifying the Instances In which such in- 
equality exists, and the extent thereof, and 
stating that he is or will he Injured thereby. 
Such certiorari and all proceedings there- 
under may be had and taken in the Judicial 
district where sucli real estates is situated, 
and may be begun at any time before the 
first day of November In the year lu which 
the determination sought to be reviewed or 
corrected has been made. 

When assessment-rolls to be made and 

delivered to the board of aldermen. 

Sec. 907. Beginning with the first day of 
April in each year tlie board of taxes and as- 
sessments shall cause to be prepared from 
the books of annual record of assossed valua- 
tions of real and personal estate in the sev- 
eral offices of the department of taxes and 
assessments In the several boroughs, assess- 
ment rolls for each of said several boroughs, 
and shall, as soon as such rolls are completed, 
annex to each of said rolls their certificates 
that the same is correct .in accordance with 
the entries in said several books of record. 
The rolls so certified must, on the first Mon- 
day of July in each year bo delivered by the 
board of taxes and assessments to the board 
of aldermen, which shall meet at noon on 
that day at. the city ball, or usual place of 
meeting, in the borough of Manhattan, for the 
purpose of receiving the same and for the 
purpose of performing such other duties jn 
relation thereto as are prescribed by law; cx~ 
cept that whenever said first Monday in July 
shall fall on a legal holiday, said rolls shall 
be delivered by sjid board of taxes and as- 
sessments on the next succeeding day there- 
after to the board of aldermen, which shall 
meet at noon on such next succeeding day, 
at the place and in the manner and for the 
purposes hereinafter specified. In the event 
of the board of aldermen failing to meet to 
receive said rolls, the same may be delivered 
to the city clerk, with the same effect as If 
delivered to the board of aldermeD. 

Within three -weeks after the delivery of 
the assessment rolls to the board of aldermen 
the board of taxes and assessments shall 
furnish to the supervisor of the City Record a 
copy of the annual record of the assessed val- 
uation of real estate, omitting from the said 
annual record two column? headed respective 
ly “size of house” and “houses on lot.” — As 
amended by Laws of 1903, Chapter 454. 

Meaning of the words ■'hoard of taxes 

and assessments” in this chapter; ma- 
jority clanse. 

Sec. 908. Whenever any act Is required or 
authorized to be done or any determination «r 


98 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


decision made by the board of taxes and as- 
sessments, or any other body or board, then 
in the absence of express provision to the 
contrary, any such act, if done, or any such 
determination or decision, if made by a ma- 
jority of the body or board shall, within the 
meaning of this act be held to be the act, 
determination or deoision of the body or 
board. 

Assessment-rolls to remain in custody 

of board of aldermen. 

Sec. 909. The tax or assessment rolls, when 
finally submitted to the board of aldermen on 
the first Monday of July in each year, shall 
remain in its custody, but the president of 
the board may, by written permission, permit 
access to them, and he is hereby, in the name 
of the board of aldermen and as its act, au- 
thorized and directed to cause to be properly 
estimated and computed the taxes annually 
Imposed, and cause the same to be properly 
set down or extended in the several assess- 
ment rolls or tax books, as required by the 
next section. It shall also be the duty of 
said president to cause the items of said taxes 
to be carefully added, and to set down the 
amount of the same therein; and when com- 
pleted to deliver the tax books relating to 
real estate to the comptroller, in order that 
the unpaid water rents of each preceding year 
may be entered therein. After such comple- 
tion of the assessment rolls or tax books it 
shall be the duty of the city clerk to procure 
the proper warrants authorizing and requir- 
ing the receiver of taxes to collect the several 
sums therein mentioned according to law, 
and such warrants need he signed only by the 
president of the board of aldermen, and coun- 
tersigned by the city clerk, and immediately 
thereafter the president of the board of al- 
dermen shall deliver the said assessment 
rolls, with the warrants aforesaid annexed 
thereto, to the receiver of taxes, at the same 
time notifying the comptroller of the amount 
of taxes in each book, in order that he may 
cause the proper sum to be charged to the 
receiver for collection. 

Id.; datics of board of aldermen, re- 
specting. 

Sec. 910. At such annual meeting the board 
of aldermen must make such alterations in 
the description of real property belonging to 
non-residents as may be necessary to render 
6uch descriptions conformable to the provis- 
ions of law; and if such alterations can not 
be made, they must expunge the descriptions 
of such real property and the assessment 
thereon from the assessment rolls. They 
must also estimate and set down in a 
fifth column, to be prepared for that purpose 
in the assessment-rolls, opposite to the sev- 
eral sums set down as the valuation of real 
and personal property, the respective sums, 
in dollars and cents, to be paid as a tax there- 
on, rejecting the fractions of a cent. They 
must also add up and set down the aggregate 
valuations of the real and personal property 
in the several boroughs as corrected by them; 
and must transmit to the comptroller of this 
state by mail a certificate of such aggregate 
valuations, showing separately the aggregate 
amount of the real and personal property in 
each borough, as corrected by the board of 
aldermen. 

Corrected roll to be delivered to re- 
ceiver of taxes. 

Sec. 911. They must also cause the assess- 
ment-rolls of each borough, when corrected 
according to law, and finally completed, or a 
fair copy thereof, to be delivered to the re- 
ceiver of taxes in and for the city on or be- 
fore the fifteenth day of September thereafter, 
with the proper warrant or warrants annexed, 
•lgued by the president of the board of al- 


dermen and countersigned by the city clerk, 
directing and requiring him to collect from 
the several persons named in the assessment- 
rolls the several sums mentioned in the last 
column of such roll, opposite tO'their respec- 
tive names, and to pay the same from time 
to .time, when so collected, to the chamber- 
lain of the city. 

Penalty for board of aldermen's neg- 
lect. 

Sec. 912. If the board of aldermen shall 
willfully refuse or neglect to perform any 
of the duties required of them by the two 
preceding sections, each member so refus- 
ing or neglecting shall forfeit to The City of 
New York the sum of five hundred dollars, 
to be recovered in a civil action; and shall 
also be punishable for a misdemeanor, and 
upon conviction thereof, shall forfeit his of- 
fice. 

Where taxes due and payable. 

Sec. 918. The receiver of taxes upon re- 
ceiving the assessment-rolls and warrants 
shall immediately cause the assessment-rolls 
and warrants for each of the several bor- 
oughs wherein he shall have an office, to be 
delivered at and filed in such office, and shall 
thereafter proceed to collect and receive said 
taxes from the several individuals and cor- 
porations assessed in the said assessment- 
rolls in the manner hereinafter prescribed. 

Receiver of taxes to give pnblic no- 
tice. 

Sec. 914. The receiver of taxes shall, im- 
mediately after he shall have received the 
assessment-rolls, give public notice for at 
least five days in the City Record and in 
such newspaper or nevrspapers published in 
the several boroughs as may be designated 
by the board of city record, or in default of 
any newspaper being published in any bor- 
ough, in such newspaper or newspapers hav- 
ing a general circulation in such borough 
as the board of city record shall direct, that 
said assessment-rolls have been delivered to 
him and that all taxes shall be due and pay- 
able at his office in the said respective bor- 
oughs on the first Monday in October, and 
that in case of payment before the first 
day of November thereafter the persons so 
paying shall be entitled to the benefits men- 
tioned in the next section. All taxes shall 
be and become liens on the real estate af- 
fected thereby on the day when they be- 
come due and payable as above provided and 
shall remain such liens until paid. 

Rebate for prompt payment. 

Sec. 915. If any person who shall be as- 
sessed in any of the said assessment-rolls 
shall pay the amount of his taxes before the 
first day of November, succeeding the deliv- 
ery of the said assessment-rolls and war- 
rants to the said receiver, it shall be the 
duty of the receiver or any of his deputies 
to receive the same, and to deduct therefrom 
interest, at the rate of six per centum per 
annum, between the day of such payment 
and the first day of December then next suc- 
ceeding. 

Interest on unpaid taxes. 

Sec. 916. If any such tax shall remain un- 
paid on the said first day of December, it 
shall be the duty of the receiver of taxes 
to charge, receive, and collect upon such 
tax so remaining unpaid on that day, in ad- 
dition to the amount of such tax, one per 
centum on the amount thereof, and to 
charge, receive and collect upon such tax 
so remaining unpaid on the first day of Jan- 
uary thereafter, interest upon the amount 
thereof, at the rate of seven per centum per 
annum, to be calculated from the day <m 
' which said taxes became due and payable. 


as provided by section nine hundred and four- 
teen of this act, to the date of payment; 
and such increase or percentage shall be 
paid over and accounted for by such receiver 
from time to time, as a part of the tax col- 
lected by him. 

Id.; continued. 

Sec. 917. It shall be the duty of the said 
receiver, in person or by his deputies, to 
charge, collect, and receive upon all taxes 
remaining unpaid on and after the said first 
day of January, interest at a rate of seven 
per centum per annum, to be calculated from 
the day on which the said taxes became due 
and payable as provided by section nine hun- 
dred and fourteen of this act. 

Duty of receiver where taxes remain 

unpaid on the first of November fol- 
lowing the delivery of assessments 

and warrants. 

Sec. 918. If any taxes of any year shall 
remain unpaid on the first day of November 
next after the assessments and warrants to 
collect such taxes have been delivered to 
the receiver of taxes at his office in the bor- 
ough of Manhattan, it shall be the duty of 
the receiver to give notice by advertisement 
for at least ten days in the City Record, and 
in such daily paper having a general circula- 
tion in any borough as the board of city 
record shall designate, that unless the -same 
shall be paid to him at his office before the 
first day of December, in any such year, he 
will immediately thereafter proceed to col- 
lect such unpaid taxes as provided herein. 

Public notice to be given by receiver 

after December first in each year. 

Sec. 919. The receiver of taxes shall im- 
mediately after the first day of December, in 
each year, give public notice in the City 
Record, and in such daily paper having a 
general circulation in any borough as the 
board of city record may designate, at least 
ten days, notifying all persons or corpora- 
tions who have omitted to pay their taxes to 
pay the same to him at his office in the bor- 
ough of Manhattan or to his several depu- 
ties in the several boroughs. 

Undivided parts of taxes; payment of. 

Sec. 920. If a sum of money in gross has 
been or shall be taxed upon any lands or 
premises, any person or persons claiming any 
divided or undivided part thereof may pay 
such part of the sum of money so taxed, 
also of the interest and charges due or 
charged thereon, as the said comptroller may 
deem to be just and equitable; and the re- 
mainder of the sum of money so taxed, to- 
gether with the interest and charges, shall 
be a lien upon the residue of the land and 
premises only, which residue may be sold to 
satisfy the residue of such tax, interest or 
charges, in the same manner as though the 
residue of said tax had been imposed upon 
the residue of said lands or premises. 

Corporations, fnx for; how collected. 

Sec. 921. The said receiver of taxes shall 
proceed in enforcing and collecting and pay- 
ment of taxes against corporations or asso- 
ciations and their officers and directors, or 
trustees, in the same manner as against in- 
dividuals; such taxes shall be paid out of 
the funds of the company and shall be rat- 
ably deducted from the dividends of those 
stockholders whose stock was taxed, or shall 
be charged upon such stock, if no dividends 
be afterward declared. 

Daily statement of taxes received to 

be rendered to chamberlain. 

Sec. 922. The receiver of taxes shall enter 
into suitable books, to be kept by him for 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF XE\V YORK. 


9V 


that purpose, the sums received by him for 
taxes, and at the expiration of the office hours 
for each day, and before three o’clock there- 
of, shall render a statement of the same to 
the chamberlain and at the same time on 
each day pay over to said chamberlain the 
amount received on such day; he shall also 
thereupon receive from the said chamberlain 
a voucher for the payment of such sums, 
which he shall forthwith, on the same day, 
exhibit to the comptroller of the said city. 
But the duty by this section imposed may, 
in respect to the borough of Brooklyn, be 
discharged by the deputy receiver of taxes 
and the deputy chamberlain located in the 
borough of Brooklyn, and likewise by similar 
deputy officers for the borough of The Bronx, 
the borough of Queens, and the borough of 
Richmond. 

Receiver's account of taxes received; 

how to be kept. 

Sec. 923. It shall be the duty of the re- 
ceiver, and of deputy receivers, from time 
to time to enter in a column to be made for 
that purpose, upon the assessment-rolls in 
his possession, opposite to the names of the 
persons mentioned therein, and who shall 
pay their tax, as aforesaid, to the receiver 
of taxes, personally or by deputy, the fact 
of such payment, the amount thereof, and 
the day when paid, and to enter into suit- 
able books, to be kept for that purpose, on 
each day such payment and the names of 
the parties respectively on whose account the 
same were paid; and at the expiration of 
the office hours, and on the same day, he 
shall furnish to the comptroller of the said 
city, personally or by deputy, a detailed 
statement of such sums of the borough for 
which received, and the names of the par- 
ties respectively on whose account the same 
have been paid, which shall be filed by the 
said comptroller in his office. The comptrol- 
ler, shall, on each day, immediately after 
receiving from said receiver or deputy the 
statement, compare the same with a voucher 
furnished to him by the chamberlain for 
the payment thereof to the chamberlain, and 
if the aggregate amounts thereof shall cor- 
respond, shall credit the said receiver of 
taxes in his books with such amount. 

Penalty for failure to report to chain- 

herlnin. 

Sec. 924. If the receiver of taxes, or any 
deputy receiver shall on any day, omit or 
neglect to furnish to the chamberlain or to 
the comptroller, respectively, the statements 
and vouchers required by law, or to make 
the daily payments hereinbefore prescribed, 
it shall be the duty of the comptroller forth- 
with to suspend from office the party delin- 
quent. In case of such suspension, the comp- 
troller shall appoint a suitable person to 
perform the duties of the officer so suspend- 
ed, who shall continue to act as such officer, 
with all the powers conferred upon him 
by this title, until the parties suspended 
shall be restored, or another person shall 
have been appointed. On making such tem- 
porary appointment, the comptroller shall be 
required to take from the party so appointed 
a bond, with two sufficient sureties, to be 
approved by the chamberlain, and filed with 
the said comptroller, in such penal sum as 
the said chamberlain may deem just, condi- 
tioned for the faithful performance of the 
duties of the office during the continuance of 
the person so appointed therein; and all the 
provisions of this title prescribing the duties 
of the receiver of taxes, and the deputy re- 
ceiver, shall apply to the person or persons 
bo appointed in their stead by the comp- 
troller. 


Provision in rase of Sickness. 

Sec. 925. In case of inability of the re- 
ceiver to perform the duties of his office by 
reason of sickness or absence from the city, 
the comptroller shall designate some suit- 
able person to perform the duties of his of- 
fice during such inability or absence, and 
shall, in his discretion, take from such per- 
son a bond, with sufficient sureties, in the 
manner prescribed in the preceding section. 

Collection of unpnid personal tax by 

distress and snle. 

Sec. 926. It shall be lawful for the said re- 
ceiver, if any tax for personal property and 
the interest thereon, as hereinbefore pro- 
vided, shall remain unpaid on the fifteenth 
day of the month of January, succeeding the 
receipt by him of the rolls, to issue hio 
warrant under his hand and seal directed to 
any marshal commanding him to levy tha 
said tax. with interest thereon at the rate 
of seven per centum per annum from the day 
on which said taxes became due and payable 
as provided by section nine hundred and 
fourteen of this act to the time when the 
same shall be paid by distress and sale of 
the goods and chattels of the person against 
whom "the said warrant shall be issued, or 
of any goods and chattels in his or her pos- 
session, wheresoever the same shall be found 
within the said city, and to pay the same 
to the said receiver and return such warrant 
within thirty days after the date thereof. 
For the purpose of this section the jurisdic- 
tion of the marshal is co-extensive with 
The City of New York. The comptroller of 
The City of New York, however, may from 
time to time as may be necessary to insure 
prompt collection of said tax, extend or re- 
new such warrant, but no single extension 
or renewal thereof shall in any event ex- 
ceed sixty days. 

Id.; may add costs of distress and sale. 

Sec. 927. In all cases where the said receiv- 
er shall proceed by distress and sale of the 
goods and chattels of any person for the pay- 
ment of any tax due and payable, it shall 
bo lawful for him to authorize and empower 
the officer making such distress and sale to 
collect, in addition to the tax and the in- 
terest thereon, the costs of such distress and 
sale, which costs shall be in addition to 
any disbursements five cents for every dol- 
lar collected to the amount of one hundred 
dollars, and two and one-half cents for every 
dollar collected over one hundred dollars. 

Id.; snle to be advertised. 

Sec. 928. The marshal to whom a warrant 
for the collection of any tax is issued shall 
give public notice at the time and place of 
sale of any property distrained by virtue 
thereof, and the property to be sold, at least 
six days previous to the sale, by advertise- 
ments to be posted up in at least three pub- 
lic places in the ward where such sale shall 
be made. The sale shall be by public auc- 
tion. 

Id.; disposition of surplus. 

Sec. 929. If the property distrained shall 
be sold for more than the amount of the tax. 
the surplus shall bs returned to the person 
in whose possession such property was when 
the distress was made, it no claim be made 
to such surplus by any other person. If 
any other person shall claim such surplus, 
on the ground that the property sold belong- 
ed to him, and such claim be admitted by tha 
person for whoso tax the same was dis- 
trained, the surplus shall be paid to such 
owner; but if such claim be contested by the j 
person for whose tax the property was dis- 


trained, the surplus moneys shall be retained 
by the said marshal until the rights of the 
parties shall be judicially determined. 

Id.; cases to l>e sent to corporation 

counsel. 

Sec. 932. It shall be the duty of the receiv- 
er of taxes to send or cause to be sent to 
the corporation counsel, monthly, all cases 
of personal taxes embraced in the assessment 
rolls, -when the assessment is one thousand 
dollars or more, and upon which a warrant 
to any of the marshals of said city has been 
issued and unsatisfied for a period of sixty 
days or returned unsatisfied in whole or 
part, and of all other cases of personal taxes 
except in those cases where the comptroller 
may extend the warrant, when application to 
any court may be made for the collection of 
the tax, and the said counsel is authorized 
to make requisitions upon the said receiver 
for all such cases. 

Id.; duties of corporation counsel. 

Sec. 933. The corporation counsel shall be 
charged with the prosecution of all suits or 
proceedings, in any court having jurisdiction, 
for the collection of all cases of personal 
taxes sent to him by the receiver of taxes, 
or where, by any law of this state, any suit 
or proceeding may be instituted by such re- 
ceiver, or any marshal acting under a tax 
warrant, in any court for the collection of 
any tax or personal property, and shall, sub- 
ject to such control, act as counsel to the 
receiver of taxes, and to any marshal acting 
under the warrant of said receiver in the 
collection of any tax for personal property. 

Court to dismiss proceedings if satis- 
fied that taxes on personal property 

cannot be paid. 

Sec. 934. The court in which any proceeding 
may be commenced to enforce the payment 
of any tax for personal property, may dismiss 
the proceedings absolutely without costs, or 
conditionally, upon the payment of costs, or 
may, on the facts, in its discretion, dismiss 
such proceedings on the payment of such part 
of the tax and costs as shall be just, in 
any case where it shall be satisfied that the 
person or persons taxed are unable, for want 
of property, or other reason to pay any tax. 
In cases where any proceedings shall be dis- 
missed under this section, on payment of a 
portion of the tax, a copy of the order of 
the court shall be filed with the receiver of 
taxes, and a note of the contents of such order 
entered upon the assessment roll, and it shall 
be the duty of said counsel to report all cases 
dismissed on account of the inability of the 
person to pay the tax to the commissioner of 
taxes and assessments, annually, on the 
thirty-first day of December in each year, 
and sa'd commissioner is hereby authorized 
to strike the names of all such persons from 
the assessment rolls for the succeeding year. 

Counsel to keep register, etc. 

Sec. 935. The corporation counsel shall keep 
in proper books to be provided by the corpor- 
ation of said city for that purpose, a register 
of all actions or proceedings prosecuted, and 
upon the expiration of his term of office or his 
resignation thereof or removal therefrom, 
the corporation counee.1 shall deliver to his 
successor in office all books and papers in his 
hands belonging to his office, or delivered 
to him by the receiver of taxes, or any mar- 
shal of said city, and in any way connected 
with bis office, or any business pertaining 
thereto. The eaid counsel or any marshal 
shall pay over, under oath, to the receiver 
of taxes of said city, monthly, or ofteuer, if 
required, all taxes collected by him. 


100 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Receiver; when may »ne for personal 
taxes. 

Sec. 936. Any tax duly Imposed for personal 
property upon any person or corporation in 
The City of New York, which shall remain 
unpaid and in arrears on the fifteenth day of 
January succeeding the year in which it shall 
have been imposed, may he recovered with 
interest and costs, by the receiver of taxes 
of said city in the name of the city, in an ac- 
tion in any court of record in this state. 

Unpaid taxes and assessments, levied 
prior to Jannary first, eighteen hun- 
dred and ninety-eight; special pro- 
vision. 

Sec. 937. All taxes, assessments and water 
rates le'vied before the first day of January, 
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, by lawful 
authority, in any of the municipal and public 
corporations hereby consolidated, including 
the counties of Kings and Richmond, and 
that part of the county of Queeps included 
Within The City of New York as hereby con- 
stituted, and which shall remain due and un- 
paid and have or may become arrears of tax- 
es, assessments or water rates ae provided by 
the laws relating to either of the municipal 
and public corporations hereby consolidated, 
shall become and be due and payable to and 
collectible by said city, and all tax and as- 
sessment lists relating to said unpaid taxes, 
assessments and water rates in the posses- 
sion of any officer of any of said municipal 
and public corporations and counties hereby 
consolidated, shall be transmitted to and de- 
posited with the comptroller or his duly 
authorized representative. All such lists shall 
thereupon be transmitted by the comptroller 
to the collator of assessments and arrears, 
to be collected by him, or by one of his depu- 
ties, by suit or under and pursuant to the 
laws in force when the said taxes, assess- 
ments and water rates were levied or in 
force on December thirty-first, eighteen hun- 
dred and ninety-seven. Such collections, in- 
cluding all sales of property for said arrears 
of taxes, water rates and assessments and 
the preparation and publieation of the lists 
of parcels of land upon which any taxes, as- 
sessments or water rates have been returned 
unpaid, shall be held and completed under 
and pursuant to the provisions of the laws 
in force at the time said taxes were levied 
or in force on the thirty-first day of Decem- 
ber, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, pro- 
vided, however, that any restriction as to 
time of publication and sale in said laws 
shall not be held to be a limitation on the 
right to sell such lands for unpaid taxes, and 
such sales may be made at any time;’ and 
prpvided further that in the borough of 
Brooklyn, the collector of assessments and 
arrears, or his deputy, shall not be confined 
to the month of December for the preparation 
•f said list. 

TITLE 2. 

ASSESSMENTS FOR LOCAL IMPROVE- 
MENTS OTHER THAN THOSE CON- 
FIRMED BY A COURT OF RECORD. 
Assessments; term, how construed. 

Sec. 942. The word assessment, wherever 
used in this titie and in the next succeeding 
one, shall be construed to mean an assess- 
ment for any local improvement which may 
be lawfully confirmed in any other manner 
than by a court of record. 

Mayor to nppoint a board of assessors; 
salary; subordinates. 

Sec. 943. The mayor shall appoint three 
persons, who shall constitute the board of 
assessors. The salary of each, member of 


said board shall be three thousand dollars 
a year. The said board shall be charged 
with the duty of making all assessments, 
other than those required by law to be con- 
firmed by a court of record, for local im- 
provements for which assessments may be 
legally imposed in any part of The City of 
New York as hereby constituted. The said 
board shall appoint a secretary and such 
clerks and subordinates ae may be necessary. 

The board of revision of assessments. 

Sec. 944. The Comptroller, corporation 
counsel and president of the department of 
taxes and assessments shall constitute the 
board of revision of assessments. The said 
board, or a majority thereof, shall have and 
perform all the powers and duties relative 
to the revision, correction and confirmation 
of assessments specified in the various laws 
and ordinances relating to assessments in 
any part of The City of New York, as hereby 
constituted, other than assessments made by 
commissioners appointed by a court of record, 
and other than those confirmed by the board 
of assessors; said board shall have power to 
consider, on the merits, all objections made 
to any such assessment, and to subpoena and 
examine witnesses in relation thereto, and to 
confirm said assessment, or to refer the 
same back to the board of assessors for re- 
visal and correction in such respects as it 
may determine. The revision of such assess- 
ments shall be made without delay, so that 
unless the same are referred back for revisal 
and correction they shall be confirmed with- 
in, thirty days from the time they shall, re- 
spectively, be presented for confirmation, and 
if not so confirmed or referred back they shall 
be deemed to be confirmed at the expiration 
of thirty days from the time they shall be, 
respectively, so presented for confirmation. 
All such assessments', immediately upon con- 
firmation, shall be transmitted to the comp- 
troller for entry and collection. 

Powers of the two boards. 

Sec. 945. In addition to the powers herein 
specifically conferred upon the board of as- 
sessors and the board of revision, the said 
boards shall have and exercise, as to the 
whole territory embraced in The City of New 
York, each and every power and authority 
conferred upon and exercised by the board of 
assessors, and the board of revision and cor- 
rection of assessments, respectively, of the 
corporation heretofore known as the mayor, 
aldermen and commonalty of the city of New 
York. 

Certificates on which assessments arc 

made. 

Sec. 946. All assessments shall be made 
by the board of assessors on the following 
certificates, to wit: 

1. The officer or head of the board or de- 
partment charged with the execution of the 
work in question, shall certify to the board 
of assessors the total amount of all the ex- 
penses which shall have been aotually in- 
curred by The City of New York on account 
thereof. 

2. The comptroller shall certify to the board 
of assessors the amount of the interest, at 
the le^al rate, upon the several Instalments 
advanced or payments made on account of 
such work, from the time of such payment 
or advance, by the city, to a day sixty days 
after the date of such certificate. Thereafter 
the board of assessors shall assess upon the 
property benefited, in the manner authorized 
by law, the aggregate amount of such certifi- 
cates, or such proportion thereof as is au- 


thorized by law, and the said board shall 
not in any way be enjoined, restrained, 
hindered or delayed in the performance of 
this duty, provided that nothing contained in 
this section shall be construed to affect the 
powers of the board of revision of assess- 
ments. 

Assessments not to exceed one-ball 

the valuation. 

Sec. 947. The assessors 6hall in no case 
assess any house or lot, improved or unim- 
proved lands, more than one-half the fair 
value of such house, lot, improved or unim- 
proved lands. 

Assessment’ lor repaving; when for- 
bidden. 

Sec. 948. Unless it 6hall be petitioned for 
by a majority of the owners of the property, 
on the line of the proposed improvement, 
no assessment ©hall be imposed for the pav- 
ing of any street, or any portion thereof, 
which has been once paved, and the expense 
thereof paid by the owners of the adjoining 
property; provided, however, that nothing 
herein cchitained shall be construed to re- 
lieve or release the owners of property, 
grantees of the mayor, aldermen and com- 
monalty of the city of New York, of or from 
any covenants to pave or repave or other- 
wise physically improve such streets. 

How property shall be described by 

the assessors. 

Sec. 949. In all cases the assessors shall de- 
scribe in the assessment the property as- 
eessed by the same ward or block numbers, 
or other designations as shall be used to 
designate the said property on the tax books 
of The City of New York. They shall also 
describe the houses and lots assessed by 
their street numbers, if any. The assessors 
shall also state the name of the owner or 
owners and occupant or occupants, if they 
be known to the assessors, and it shall be 
their duty to ascertain, as far as may be, 
by inquiry from the commissioners of taxes 
and assessments or others, such ownership 
agd occupation, and such commissioners shall 
afford the requisite information. 

Notice of completion ol assessments to 

be given. 

Sec. 950. It shall be the duty of the board of 
assessors, when it has completed any pro- 
posed assessment, to give notice of the fact 
and that it is proposed to lay the same to 
the owner or owners; such notice shall be 
published daily in the City Record and the 
corporation newspapers for at least ten days 
successively. The notice shall describe the 
limits within which it is proposed to lay the 
said assessment, and shall contain a request 
for all persons whose interests may be af- 
fected thereby, and who may be opposed to 
the same, to present their objections in 
writing, to the secretary of the board of 
assessors within thirty days from the date 
of such notice, and specifying a time and 
place after the expiration of the said thirty 
days when and where the said objections 
will be heard and testimony received in ref- 
erence thereto if after hearing and exam- 
ining such objections and testimony, the as- 
sessors shall not deem it proper to alter 
their assessment, or having altered it there 
shall still be objections to the same, it 
shall be their duty to present such objections " 
with the proposed assessment to the board 
of revision of assessments. If no objections 
shall be received, or if the board of assessors 
shall alter the assessment so as to satisfy 
the objectors, said board shall forthwith de- 
clare the said assessment confirmed, and 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


101 


shall transmit the same to the comptroller 
for entry and collection. An assessment so 
confirmed shall be of the same force and 
effect as if confirmed by the board of revis- 
ion of assessments. 

Award of damages for changes of 

grade; liability' in sneli cases. 

Sec. 951. All cases where a change of grade 
of any street or avenue has been made prior 
to the taking effect of this act, shall, as to 
the liability tp make compensation for dam- 
ages caused by such change of grade, be 
governed by the laws in force at the time 
such change of grade was made. After the 
taking effect of this aot there shall be no 
liability to abutting owners for originally 
establishing a grade; nor any liability for 
changing a grade once established by lawful 
authority, except where the owner of the 
abutting property has subsequently to such 
establishment of grade built upon or other- 
wise improved the property in conformity 
with such established grade, and such grade 
is changed after such buildings or improve- 
ments have been made. In such cases dam- 
ages occasioned by such change of grade to 
such buildings and improvements shall be 
ascertained and assessed in connection with 
and as a part of the expenses of grading or 
etherwise improving the street or avenue in 
conformity with the grade as changed. A 
grade shall be deemed established by lawful 
authority within the meaning of this sec- 
tion where it was orignally adopted by the 
action of the public authorities, or where 
the street or avenue has been used by the 
public as of right for twenty years and been 
improved by the public authority at the ex- 
pense of the public or of the abutting owners. 
All laws inconsistent herewith are hereby 
repealed. In case the grade of any such street 
shall be changed, and the same shall have 
been regulatqd and graded according to the 
new grade, a'fter the certificate of the cost 
of such regulating and grading shall have 
been received by the board of assessors, it 
shall be the duty of the said board to cause 
to be published in the “City Record” and the 
corporation newspapers, for at least ten days 
successively, a notice which shall contain a 
request for all persons claiming to have been 
injured by the said change of grade to pre- 
sent, in writing, to the secretary of the 
board of assessors, their claims, specifying 
& place where and a time when the said 
board will receive evidence and testimony 
of the nature and extent of such injury. 
After hearing and considering the said testi- 
mony and evidence the board of assessors 
shall make such awards for such loss and 
damage, if any, as it may deem proper. The 
amount of the said awards shall be included 
In the assessment for the regulating and 
grading of the street in question, as a part 
of the expense thereof, and the said award, 
and the proceedings of the assessors in rela- 
tion thereto, shall be subject to review by 
the board of revision of assessments. 

Foregoing section; liow construed. 

Sec. 952. The foregoing section shall not be 
construed to authorize the making of an 
award for loss or damage caused by change of 
grade in any case in which an award could 
not legally be made under laws existing im. 
mediately previous to the passage of this act, 
and affecting any part of the territory of the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York nor shall it be construed to af- 
fect the powers of any commission acting 
under any laws of this state. 

Awards; wlien to be paid; action tor 

default. 

Sec. 953. The City of New York shall, within 
four months after confirmation of any assess- • 


ment, including awards made in pursuance 
of the last section but one, pay to the re- 
spective parties entitled thereto the amount 
of such awards, and in case of its neglect 
"or failure to pay the same at the expira- 
tion of the said period, and after demand, 
it shall be lawful for the persons entitled to 
the same to sue for and recover the amount 
of their awards. In case any such award or 
compensation shall be paid to any person not 
entitled thereto, when the same ought to have 
been paid to some other person, it shall be 
lawful for the person to whom the same 
ought to have been paid to sue for and re- 
cover the same with interest and costs, as 
so much money had and received to his 
use by the person or persons respectively to 
whom the same shall have been so paid; provid- 
ed that when the name or names of the owner 
or owners, party or parties, are not set forth 
in the report of the assessors, or where the 
said owners, parties or persons respectively 
being named therein shall be insane, a mar- 
ried woman, under the age of twenty-one 
years, or absent from the city, or after dili- 
gent search can not be found, or their title 
to receive such awards disputed, it shall be 
lawful for The City of New York to pay the 
sum mentioned in said report, or that would 
be coming to such owners, parties and persons 
respectively, to the chamberlain, to be se- 
cured, disposed of and invested as the su- 
preme court shall direct, and such payments 
shall be as valid and effectual in all respects 
as if made to the said owners, parties and 
persons respectively themselves, according to 
their just rights, if they had b.een known 
and had been persons of full -age, single wom- 
en and of sound mind. 

Assessments for deepening water in 

docks, etc. 

Sec. 954. The- expense of conforming to any 
order or direction made in accordance with 
section eight hundred and thirty-two of this 
act, or of carrying the same into effect, shall 
be estimated and assessed by the board of 
assessors upon or among the owner or owners 
of any or every wharf, pier, dock, bulkhead, 
piece of land, water-right or privilege, near 
or adjacent to which any such water may be 
deepened, and which may in any matter be 
benefited thereby, in proportion, as nearly as 
may be, to the advantage which each shall be 
deemed to acquire. Every such estimate and 
assessment, after confirmation, shall be bind- 
ing and conclusive upon the owners thereby 
assessed respectively, and shall bp a lien or 
charge upon the property or premises in re- 
spect to which the same may have been 
made. 

TITLE 3. 

VACATING AND MODIFYING ASSESS- 
MENTS FOR LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS 

OTHER THAN THOSE CONFIRMED BY 

A COURT OF RECORD. 

Remedies limited. 

Sec. 958. No suit or action in the nature of 
a bill in equity or otherwise shall be com- 
menced for the vacation of any assessment 
in said city, or to remove a cloud upon title; 
but owners of property shall be confined to 
their remedies in such cases to the proceedings 
under this title. It shall be lawful, however, 
for the comptroller, acting under the written 
advice of the corporation counsel, to compro- 
mise and settle claims for assessments for 
local improvements heretofore confirmed and 
Interest thereon, and payments made in ac- 
cordance with the terms of such settlements 
shall be in the natur.e of accord and satisfac- 
tion, and no action shall be maintainable to 
recover back amounts thus paid. 


Petition to the supreme conrt in case 

of fraud or substantial error. 

Sec. 959. If in the proceedings relative to 
any assessment or assessments for local im- 
provements, or in the proceedings to collect 
the same, any fraud or substantial error shall 
be alleged to have been committed, the party 
aggrieved thereby may apply to a justice of 
the supreme court in special term or in va- 
cation, who shall thereupon, upon due notice 
to the corporation counsel, proceed forthwith 
to hear the proofs and allegations of the 
parties. If, upon such hearing it shall appear 
that the alleged fraud or substantial error, 
other than such errors as are specified in 
the next section has been committed as pro- 
vided iu this title, the said assessment shall 
be vacated or modified, and the lien created 
thereby, or by any subsequent proceedings, 
shall cease. If, upon such hearing, it shall 
appear that, by reason of any alleged irreg- 
ularity, the expense of any local improve- 
ment has been unlawfully increased, the 
judge may order that such assessment upon 
the lands of said aggrieved party may be 
modified by deducting therefrom such sum as 
is in the same proportion to such assessment 
as is the whole amount of such unlawful in- 
crease to the whole amount of the expense of 
such local improvement. Any order that may 
be made by a justice under authority of this 
section shall be filed in the office of the coun- 
ty clerk of the county in which the lands are 
situated, and after the filing of a certified 
copy thereof with the officer having charge 
of the assessment. It shall be his duty to 
cancel or reduce the assessment as required 
by the order, or do any other act required 
thereby. 

Assessments not to be set aside for 

certain irregularities and technical- 
ities. 

Sec. 960. No assessment heretofore made or 
imp.osed or which shall hereafter be made or 
imposed for any local improvement or other 
pubdic work, already completed or now being 
made or performed, or which shall hereafter 
be made, done or performed, shall hereafter 
be vacated or set aside for or by reason of 
any omission to advertise, or irregularity in 
advertising any ordinance, resolution, notice 
or other proceeding relative to, or authorizing 
the improvement or work for which such 
assessment shall have been made or im- 
posed, or for proposals to do the work, or for 
or by reason of the omission of any officer to 
perform aHy duty imposed upon him, or for 
or by reason of any defect in the authority 
of any department or officer upon whose ac- 
tion the assessment shall be in any manner 
or to any extent dependent, or for or by rea- 
son of any omission to comply with or carry 
out any detail of any law or ordinance, or 
for or by reason of any irregularity or tech- 
nicality, except only in cases in which fraud 
shall be shown and in case of an assessment 
for repaving any street or public place, upon 
property for which an assessment has once 
been paid for paving the same street or pubjl? 
place; and all property in said city benefifed 
by any improvement or other public work al- 
ready completed, or now being made or per- 
formed, and hereafter made, done or per- 
formed, except as aforesaid, shall be liable 
to assessment for such improvement or work 
and all assessments for any such improve- 
ment or other public work shall be valid and 
binding notwithstanding any such omission, 
irregularity, defect in authority or techni- 
cality. No assessment shall be vacated 
bv reason of fraud or irregularity 
in the proceedings to collect the same 
by sale of the assessed premises; but. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


102 


upon proof of such fraud or irregularity, 
such sale shall be set aside and the respec- 
tive rights and liabilities of the assessed 
person and of The City of New York shall 
become and be the same as if sueh sale had 
not been made. 

All claims may l»c embraced In one 

proceeding-. 

Sec. 961. Any person applying for relief 
under the provisions of this title, may em- 
brace in one proceeding any or all assess- 
ments for local improvements in which he is 
interested. 

Power of court to vacate or reduce 

nssesKments limited and qualified. 

Sec. 962. No court shall vacate or reduce 
any assessment in fact or apparent, whether 
void or voidable, on any property for any 
local improvement, otherwise than to reduce 
any such assessment to the extent that the 
same may be shown by parties complaining 
thereof to have been in fact increased in 
dollars and cents by reason of fraud or sub- 
stantial error; and in no event shall that 
proportion of any such assessment, which 
is equivalent to the fair value or fair cost 
of any local improvement, with interest at the 
rate of three per centum per annum from 
the date of confirmation to the date of the 
final order of reduction and seven per centum 
thereafter, be disturbed for any cause. The 
provisions of this section shall apply to ac- 
tions to recover money paid for assessments, 
and the amount recovered shall be limited 
to the excess over the fair value or fair cost 
of the improvement. 

When proceedings to vacate, etc., to be 

brought. 

Sec. 963. All proceedings to vacate or re- 
duce assessments in The City of New York 
must be brought within one year after the 
confirmation thereof. 

Re-assessment. 

Sec. 964. Any lands which may be dis- 
charged from any lien for an assessment for 
any local improvement or as to which a sale 
for non-payment of such assessments author- 
ized to be made by section ten hundred and 
twenty-seven of this act has been vacated 
or set aside may be again assessed in the 
manner provided by law, for such amount as 
would have been justly chargeable if fraud 
or irregularity had not been committed; and 
the amount so assessed shall be a lien on 
said lands until paid, and shall be collectible 
in The manner provided by law for the col- 
lection of assessments, but all proceedings 
to make a new assessment shall be at the ex- 
pense of the city. 

TITLE 4. 

OPENING STREETS AND PARKS. 

Authority to open streets. 

Sec. 970. The City of New York is author- 
ized to acquire title for the use of the pub- 
lic to all or any of the lands required for 
streets, parks, approaches to bridges and 
tunnels, sites or lands above or under water, 
for bridges and tunnels, and sites or land3 
above or under water, for all improvements of 
the navigation of waters within or separating 
portions of The City of New York, or of 
the water fronts of The City of New York, 
or part or parts thereof, heretofore duly laid 
out upon the map or plan of The City of New 
York, of the City of Brooklyn, of Long Island 
City or of any of the territory cons'olidated 
with the corporation heretofore known as the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York, or hereafter duly laid out upon 
the map or plan of The City of New York, 
M herein constituted, and to cause the same 


to be opened. The board of estimate and 
apportionment is authorized to direct the 
same to be done whenever and as often as it 
shall deem It for the public interests so to 
do. The lands, tenements and hereditaments 
that may be required for such purposes may 
be taken therefor, and compensation and 
recompense made to the parties and persons, 
if any such there shall be, to whom the 
loss and damage thereby shall be deemed 
to exceed the benefit and advantage thereof, 
for the excess of the damage over and above 
the value of said benefit. The City of New 
York is authorized to make application, or 
to cause application to be made, to the su- 
preme court of this state in the first or 
second judicial departments, as the case may 
be, for the appointment of commissioners of 
estimate and assessment to ascertain and de- 
termine the compensation and recompense 
which should justly be made to the respective 
owners, lessees, parties and persons respec- 
tively entitled unto or Interested in the 
lands, tenements, hereditaments and prem- 
ises proposed to be taken for any of the 
purposes aforesaid, and to assess the cost 
of such improvement or such proportion 
thereof as the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment directs, upon such parties and per- 
sons, lands and tenements as may be deemed 
to be benefited thereby. Streets or portions 
thereof which are continuations of each 
other in the same general direction may be 
embraced in the same proceeding. The 
moneys collected upon the assessment of the 
commissioners of estimate and assessment 
shall be paid into the city treasury. The 
damages awarded by the commissioners of 
estimate and assessment shall become due 
and payable immediately upon the confirma- 
tion of the report of said commissioners of 
estimate and assessment. 

Removal of buildings. 

Sec. 971. The board of estimate and ap- 
portionment may permit any building which 
shall be either partly or wholly included 
within the limits of any such street, or park 
laid out in the said city, and so to be opened 
as aforesaid, to remaii unremoved for such 
time or times as they shall think proper. 

Columbia College, St. John's College 

and University of The City of New 

York! streets not to be opened 

through grounds of. 

Sec. 972. It shall be unlawful to open 
any streets through the grounds belonging 
to the corporation of St. John’s College, 
in its actual occupation at what was 
formerly known as Fordham, or through or 
upon any part of the land and premises 
now owned by the University of The City 
of New York, extending from Sedg- 
wick avenue to Aqueduct avenue, in The 
City of New York, and lying immediately 
south of and adjacent to One Hundred and 
Eighty-first street, sometimes called Uni- 
versity avenue, so long as the same shall 
be owned or occupied for educational pur- 
poses by the said university; provided, how- 
ever, that nothing in this section contained 
shall be construed to interfere with the 
opening of One Hundred and Eighty-first 
street, between Andrews avenue and Aque- 
duct avenue, at any time hereafter, and pro- 
vided that the said University of The City 
of New York shall dedicate without claim or 
reward for damages all of the land required 
for East One Hundred and Eighty-first street, 
between Andrews avenue and Aqueduct ave- 
nue. No street from One Hundred and Six- 
teenth street to One Hundred and Twentieth 
street, or from Amsterdam avenue to the 
Boulevard shall at any time be opened 
through the grounds of Columbia College, 


so long as such grounds are owned or occu- 
pied for educational purposes. 

Application for the appointment of 

commissioners. 

Sec. 973. Whenever the opening of any 
street shall have been duly authorized and 
directed, as provided in this act, it shall 
be the duty of the corporation counsel im- 
mediately to institute a proceeding to ac- 
quire title for the use of the public to the 
land required for such street, and upon due 
notice by advertisement duly published in 
the City Record and the corporation news- 
papers foT ten days, and by causing copies 
of the same in handbills to be posted for 
the same space of time in three conspicuous 
places adjacent to the property to be affected 
by the intended Improvement, to make appli- 
cation to the supreme court, in the appro- 
priate department thereof within the city, 
and in the manner appropriate to proceed- 
ings for the appointment of commissioners 
of estimate and assessment, indicating in 
such application the land required for that 
purpose by reference to the maps on file in 
his office. Upon such an application it shall 
be lawful for the said court to appoint three 
discreet and disinterested persons, being citi- 
zens of the,United States, all of whom shall 
be residents of the borough where the prop- 
erty to be taken is located, commissioners 
of estimate and assessment in said proceed- 
ings, for the performance of the duties in 
this chapter mentioned. 

The persons so appointed shall be subject 
to the right of challenge on the ground of 
interest, incapacity or disqualification to be 
exercised by the corporation counsel or by 
any person having an interest in the said 
proceedings; and if any of them be rejected 
for good cause, or refuse to serve, then 
another shall be appointed in his stead by 
the court. Ten days’ notiqe of the appoint- 
ment of the commissioners, Sundays and 
holidays excluded, shall be published in the 
City Record and the corporation newspapers, 
and the corporation counsel shall cause such 
notice to be served by mall or otherwise 
upon such parties or their attorneys as have 
filed a notice of claim or of appearance in 
the proceeding. The said notice shall spec- 
ify the names of the persons appointed as 
commissioners and appoint a day when the 
parties may be heard at a special term of 
the supreme court as to the qualifications 
of the said commissioners. Th6 persons 
named as commissioners shall attend at the 
time and place appointed and may be ex- 
amined under oath as to their qualifications 
to act. Any ground of challenge which 
would disqualify a judge or juror shall be ap- 
plicable to them, and any challenge must be 
tried and determined by the court in the 
mode prescribed by law in respect to the 
challenge of jurors, and such determination 
may be excepted to and reviewed as in the 
case of jurors. Where a challenge is sus- 
tained and a new commissioner is appointed, 
such new commissioner shall be subject to 
challenge in the same way, to be heard and 
determined by the court at such tlwe as the 
court may direct. 

Amendments of defects. 

Sec. 974. Said court shall have power at 
any time to amend any defect or informality 
in any special proceeding authorized by this 
title, that may be necessary, or to cause 
property to be affected thereby to be ex- 
cluded, or other property to be included 
therein by amendment, upon ten days’ notice 
published and posted as aforesaid, and to 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


103 


direct such further notices to be given to 
any pa/ty in interest as it deems proper, and 
also to appoint other commissioners in place 
of any who shall die, or refuse, or neglect 
to serve, or be incapable of serving, or be 
removed. If, in any particular, it shall, at 
any time be found necessary to amend any 
petition, pleading, proceeding or order, or to 
supply any defect therein, arising in the 
course of any special proceeding authorized 
by this title, the same may be amended or 
supplied in such manner as shall be directed 
by the supreme court, which is hereby au- 
thorized to make such amendment or cor- 
rections. 

Yncnncies among ooinminHloiirrsi liow 

filled. 

Sec. 975. In the case of the death, resigna- 
tion, refusal to act, or failure to qualify 
within ten days after his appointment of 
any such commissioner of estimate and as- 
sessment, to be appointed under and by 
virtue of this title, for any such afore- 
said purpose, it shall and may be law- 
ful for the court aforesaid, or of any of 
♦ he justices thereof, on the application of 
the city, on notice only to any person inter- 
ested who may have appeared on the prior 
application, as often as such event shall hap- 
pen, to appoint a discreet and disinterested 
person, being a citizen of the United States, 
and a resident of the borough where the 
property to be taken is located, in the place 
and stead of such commissioner so dying, 
resigning, refusing to act, or failing to quali- 
fy, and the surviving or acting commissioners, 
as the case may be, shall have power to pro- ] 
ceed in the execution of the duties of their ! 
appointment, until a successor of the com- 
missioner so dying, resigning, or refusing to 
act or failing to qualify, shall be appointed. 
Such successor appointed as aforesaid sha'I 
possess the same qualifications and be sub- 
ject' to challenge upon the same grounds and 
in the same general manner as hereinbefore 
provided for, and the time and place for such 
challenge shall be specified in the order ap- 
pointing such successor. 

Two commissioners may act. 

Sec. 976. In all and every case of the ap- 
pointment of commissioners by the court 
aforesaid, for any of the purposes aforesaid, 
it shall be competent and lawful for any two 
of such said commissioners so to be appoint- 
ed, to proceed to and execute and perform the 
trusts and duties of their said appointment, 
and their acts shall be as valid and effectual 
as the acts of all the commissioners so to be 
appointed for such said purpose if they had 
acted therein would have been. In all cases 
the acts, decisions and proceedings of the 
major part of such commissioners to be ap- 
pointed for any of the purposes aforesaid as 
shall be acting in the premises, shall always 
be as binding, valid and effectual as if the 
said commissioners named and appointed for 
such purpose had all concurred and joined 
therein. 

Oatli of commissioners. 

Sec. 977. Commissioners when they are ap- 
pointed and before they enter upon the per- 
formance of the duties of their appointment, 
shall severally take and subscribe before' 
some person authorized by law to administer 
oaths, the following oath or affirmation: “I 
do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will sup- 
port the constitution of the United States 
and the constitution of the state of New 
York, and that I will faithfully discharge the 
duties of the office of commissioner accord- 
ing to the best of my ability.” Such oath 
or affirmation shall be filed in the office of 


the clerk of the county in which the order 
appointing the said commissioners has been 
entered. 

Commissioners to view anil g-ive notice 
of their appointment. 

Sec. 978. It shall be the duty of the said 
commissioners when appointed in a proceed- 
ing, to view the lands, tenements and prem- 
ises to be thereby acquired, and lands, tene- 
ments, hereditaments, and premises adjacent 
thereto, if they shall deem such view to be 
necessary, or useful. They shall cause 
to be published in the “City Record” 
notice of their appointment, containing 
a brief statement of the purposes for 
which they have been appointed, and requir- 
ing all parties and persons interested in tho 
real estate taken or to be taken for the pur- 
pose of opening, extending, enlarging, 
straightening, altering or otherwise im- 
proving the said street or park affected 
thereby, and having any claim or demand 
on account thereof, to present the same to 
them duly verified, with such affidavit or 
other proof as the owners or claimants may 
desire, within twenty days after the date 
of such notice, and stating a time and place 
after the expiration of said twenty days 
when the said parties and persons shall be 
heard in relation thereto by the said com- 
missioners. At the time and place fixed by 
said notice or at any such further or other 
i times and places as the said commissioners 
| may appoint, the said commissioners shall 
] hear such owners and examine the proof of, 
such claimant or claimants, or such addi- 
tional proof and allegations as may then be 
offered by such owners, or on behalf of The 
City of New York. 

Certain powers of commissioners. 

Sec. 979. It shall be lawful for the com- 
missioners of estimate and assessment duly 
appointed in proceedings authorized by this 
title to administer oaths. And the said 
commissioners may, as a condition for the 
opening of a default, require the party apply- 
ing therefor to pay the fees of the commis- 
sioners, and the clerical expenses of the com- 
sioners, for the additional meeting or meet- 
ings of the commissioners made necessary by 
the fault of such party. They shall reduce any 
testimony taken before them to writing. They 
may cause such maps or diagrams to be 
prepared, if they deem the same necessary, 
as will enable or assist them to hear and 
determine the claims or interest of the said 
owners and persons interested. From the 
surveys and maps furnished to or prepared 
by them and such other information as 
the said commissioners shall possess or 
obtain, they shall cause diagrams to be pre- 
pared which shall distinctly indicate, by 
separate numbers, the names of the own- 
ers of or the claimants to the respective 
plots or parcels of land to be taken or as- 
sessed by such proceeding, and which shall 
also specify, in figures, with sufficient ac- 
curacy, the dimensions and bounds of each 
said tracts or parcels. The said commis- 
sioners, before the completion of their esti- 
mate and assessments, may obtain from 
The City of New York a profile or plan. If 
they shall deem the same useful, showing 
the intended regulation of the street, or 
part of a street, with regard to the opening 
of which they have been appointed, as to 
the elevation or depression thereof, after 
the same shall be opened, extended, en- 
larged, straightened, altered, or otherwise 
improved, as the case may be; and also 
profiles or plans, if they shall deem the 
same useful, showing the intended regula- 
tion of the adjacent street or streets, as to 


to tho elevation or depression thereof, after 
such improvement. The said commission- 
ers may require any board, department, or 
officer of The City of New York to fur- 
nish to them such surveys and maps as may 
be required by them. 

Commissioners to ascertain damages 

and benefit. 

See. 980. After hearing such testimony and 
considering such proofs as may be offered, 
the commissioners, or a majority of them, all 
having considered the same, or having had 
an opportunity to be present, shall, without 
unnecessary delay, ascertain and estimate 
the compensation which ought justly to be 
made by The City of New York to the respec- 
tive owners, lessees, parties and persons re- 
spectively entitled unto or interested in the 
lands, tenements, hereditaments and prem- 
ises so required for the improvement; and 
make a just and equitable estimate and as- 
sessment, also, of the value of the benefit 
and advantage of such improvement to the 
respective owners, lessees, parties and per- 
sons respectively entitled unto or interested 
in the lands, tenements, hereditaments and 
premises not required for the said improve- 
ment, and prepare an abstract of their esti- 
mate and assessment. They shall not, in 
making their estimate and assessment of 
the value of the benefit and advantage of the 
said improvement, be confined to any definite 
limit, but shall and hereby are authorized to 
extend such estimate and assessment to any 
and all such lands, tenements and heredita- 
ments and premises as they may deem to 
be benefited by the improvement, and which 
they may judge expedient to include in their 
report in the premises. The board of esti- 
mate and apportionment may in any case 
determine whether any, and, if any, what 
proportion of the cost and expense thereof 
shall be borne and paid by The City of New 
York, and the remainder of such cost and ex- 
pense shall be assessed upon the property 
deemed to be benefited thereby. The deter- 
mination or decision of said board as to the 
proportion of cost and expense to be borne 
and paid by The City of New York, and as 
to the proportion to be borne by the property 
benefited, after it shall have bfeen made and 
announced, shall be final, and such deter- 
mination or decision shall not be reopened or 
reconsidered by said board. The said com- 
missioners shall in no case assess any house, 
lot, improved or unimproved lands, more 
than one-half the value of such house, lot, 
improved or unimproved land, as valued by 
them. It shall be lawful for the said com- 
missioners, if they shall deem it Just and 
equitable "under the circumstances to do so, 
but not otherwise; "to assess any part, not 
exceeding one-third part of the estimated 
value of any building or buildings taken in 
the proceeding, but not of any other improve- 
ment, upon The City of New York. If the 
said commissioners of estimate and assess- 
ment shall judge that any intended regu- 
lation will injure any building or buildings 
not required to be taken for the purpose of 
opening, extending, enlarging, straightening, 
altering, or improving such street or part of 
a street, they shall proceed to make, to- 
gether with the other estimates and assess- 
ments required by law to be made by them, 
a just and equitable estimate and assessment 
of the loss and damage which will ac- 
crue, by and in consequence of such in- 
tended regulation, to the respective owners, 
lessees, parties and persons, respectively, en- 
titled unto or interested in the said building 
or buildings so to be injured by the said 
intended regulation; and the sums or eoti- 


104 


THE CHARTER OE THE CITY OE NETT YORK. 


mates of compensation and recompense for 
such loss and damage shall be included by 
tho said commissioners in their report and 
included in the assessment for benefit. 

Abstract of estimate aud assessment 

to be deposited. 

Sec. 981. The said commissioners shall de- 
posit in the bureau of street opening's in the 
law department their said abstract of their 
estimate and assessment at least thirty days 
before their leport shall be presented to the 
court for confirmation, which abstract shall 
be accompanied by copies of the diagrams 
used by them and which shall refer to the 
numbers thereby indicated, and state the sev- 
eral sums respectively estimated for or as- 
sessed upon each of said parcels with the 
name or names, claimant or claimants, so far 
as ascertained by said commissioners. They 
shall also deposit all the affidavits and proofs 
used by them in making their report. They 
shall also publish a notice for fifteen days in 
the “City Record” and in the corporation 
newspapers and when authorized pursuant to 
this act, in not mors than one newspaper pub- 
lished in the borough in which the property 
is located, stating their intention to present 
their report for confirmation to the said court 
at a time and place to be specified in said 
notice, and that all persons interested in 
such proceedings, or in any of the lands af- 
fected thereby, having objections thereto, 
■hall file the shme, in writing, duly verified, 
■with said commissioners within twe'nty days 
after the first publication of said notice, and 
that the said commissioners will hear parties 
so -objecting at a place and at a time after 
the expiration of said twenty days, to be spe- 
cified in said notice. Similar notice for* at 
least ten days shall be given of any new, sup- 
plemental or amended abstract. At the time 
and place named in said notice the said com- 
missioner shall hear the person or persons 
who have objected to the said abstract, and 
who may then and there appear, and shall 
have power to adjourn from time to t*ime 
unfil all such persons shall be fully heard. 

Amendment of abstract. 

Sec. 982. It shall not be lawful for the com- 
missioners of estimate and assessment to 
alter or amend any abstract or report, or sup- 
plemental or amended abstract or report, 
after the same shall have been deposited for 
inspection as required by law, by increasing 
the amount of any assessment for benefit, or 
diminishing any award for damage, unless 
the person or persons, party or parties, af- 
fected by such increase or diminution shall 
have had notice thereof and an opportunity 
of being heard before said commissitfners be- 
fore their report shall be presented to the 
court for confirmation. 

Witness; how compelled to testify. 

Sec. 983. Upon the application of any 
person persons whose rights may be 
affected ty the said estimate or assess- 
ment, verified by the oath or affirma- 
tion of such applicant or his agent, that 
any witness, residing or b4ing in The City of 
New York, whose affidavit to verify or op- 
pose any objection to the said estimate or 
assessment is material or necessary to such 
party, refuses voluntarily te appear before 
any officer authorized to take such affidavit, 
to testify or affirm to such matter as ne 
may know, touching such objection, any one 
of the said commissioners of estimate ana 
assessment in t£e proceeding may issue a 
subpoena under his hand, requiring such wit- 
ness to appear and testify to such matters 


as ho may know touching the said estimate 
or assessment, at such time and place as the 
said comjnissioner may designate in such 
subpoena. And every person, who being 
served with such subpoen^ shall, witUout 
reasonable cause, refuse or neglect to ap- 
pear, or appearing, shall refuse to answer, 
under oath or affirmation, touching the mat- 
ters aforesaid, shall forfeit to the party in- 
jured one hundred dollars; and may also be 
committed to prison by any justice of the 
supreme court upon application duly maue 
on behalf of the commissioner who issued 
such subpoena, there to remain, without ball 
and without the liberties of the jail until 
he shall submit to answer under oath or 
affirmation as aforesaid. The testimony or 
such witness when given shall be reduced to 
writing in the presence of and be sworn or 
affirmed to before such commissioner. 

Commissioners to present report to 

court. 

Sec. 9S4. After considering the objections, 
if any, and making any correction or altera- 
tion of their estfmate or assessment, which 
said commissioners, or any two of them shall 
find to be just and proper, the said, commis- 
sioner shall file the said report, signed by 
them or a majority of them, in the office of 
the clerk of the county where the lanas 
ar'e situated at least five days before the 
time mentioned in said notice for the presen- 
tation of said report' to the court for con- 
firmation, or the date to which the same shall 
have been duly adjourned. The said com- 
missioners, or any person interested in said 
proceeding, shall- notify the corporation coun- 
sel and all persons who have filed their ob- 
jections as aforesaid, or who have thereto- 
fore appeared as soon as the said report 
shall have been filed. The corporation coun- 
sel may present the same for confirmation, 
or in the case of his neglect or refusal, any 
person interested in the lands taken or re- 
quired for said improvement may present 
the same, upon' notice to the corporation 
counsel. 

Report: what to contain. 

Sec. 985. The report of the commissioners 
shall consist of the diagram hereinbefore re- 
ferred to, duly corrected, when necessary, 
with a tabular abstract of the estimate and 
assessment, with any corrections or altera- 
tions thereof by said commissioners, show- 
ing fully and separately to the said court the 
amount of loss and damage, and of benefit 
and advantage to each and every owner, 
lessee, party and person entitled or interested 
in any lands, tenements, hereditaments, or 
premises affected by the improvement. In 
said report the commissioners who shall make 
the same shall set forth the names of the 
respective owners, lessees, parties and per- 
sons entitled unto or interested in the said 
lands, tenements, hereditaments, and prem- 
ises mentioned in the said report, and each 
and every part and parcel thereof, as far 
forth as the same shall be ascertained by 
them, and an apt and sufficient designation or 
description of the respective lots or parcels 
of land and other tenements, hereditaments 
and premises that may be required for the 
purpose of opening such street or park, or 
part thereof so to be opened, or laying out' 
and forming or extending and enlarging or 
otherwise improving such street or park so 
to be laid out and formed, or so to be ex- 
tended, enlarged or otherwise Improved, as 
the case may be, and also of the said respect- 
ive lots or parcels of land and other tene- 
ments, hereditaments and premises not in- 
cluded within, but deemed to be benefited 
by the same, and so assessed by the said 


commissioners for the said benefit as afore- 
said. It shall refer to the number f of the 
tracts and parcels indicated by said dia- 
grams, and state the several sums respect- 
ively estimated for as assessed upon each of 
said tracts or parcels, with -the name or 
names of the owners or claimants of each, 
if ascertained by said commissioners. When- 
ever the said commissioners shall be un- 
able to ascertain with sufficient certainty the 
name of any owner of any parcel of said 
lands, they shall indicate such parcel upon 
the diagram embracing it, as belonging to 
unknown owners. It shall not be necessary 
in said report to describe any of the said 
tracts or parcels by metes and bounds, 
but only by reference to the said diagrams. 
It shall also set forth the several 
and respective sums estimated and as- 
sessed as and for the compensation and 
recompense, or the allowance to be made 
for the loss and damage, or for the benefit, 
as the case may be, of the respective owners 
of the fee or inheritance of such lands, tene- 
ments, hereditaments and premises respect- 
ively, and for the loss and damage, or for the 
benefit, as the case may be, of the respective 
owners of the leasehold estates or other in- 
terests therein separately; but In all, and 
each and every case and cases where the 
owners and parties interested, or their re- 
spective estates and interests are unknown, 
or not fully known to the said commissioners, 
it shall be sufficient for them to estimate and 
assess and set forth and state in their said 
report, in general terms, the respective sums 
to be allowed and paid to or by the owners 
and proprietors generally of such said lands, 
tenements, hereditaments and premises, and 
parties interested therein for the loss and 
damage, or for the benefit and advantage, as 
the case may be, to such owners, proprietors 
and parties interested in respect of the whole 
estate and interest of whqmsover may be 
entitled to, unto or interested in the 'said 
lands, tenements, hereditaments and prem- 
ises respectively, by and in consequence of 
the said operation and improvement of open- 
ing, laying out, and forming or extending, 
enlarging or otherwise improving the said 
street or park or section thereof so to be 
opened or so to be laid out and formed or 
extended, enlarged, or otherwise improved, 
as the case may be, without speci- 
fying the names of the estates or in- 
terSsts of such owners and proprietors and 
parties interested, or of any or either of 
them. Said commissioners of estimate and 
assessment may, when authorized by a ma- 
jority vote of all the members of the board of 
estimate and apportionment, make up and 
file a preliminary abstract of their estimate 
of damages, separate and apart from their 
estimate of assessments for benefit, embrac- 
ing either the entire lands, tenements, here- 
ditaments, and premises to be acquired or suc- 
cessive sections or parcels thereof, and ascer- 
tain and estimate the compensation to bo 
made thereon and make a separate report 
with reference thereto. Such separate or 
partial report shall be made in the same form 
and manner, and such proceedings shall be 
had in respect thereto, as in respect to the 
report of the commissioners relative to the 
entire lands taken and assessed as herein 
provided for, except that the final or last 
separate report shall contain the assessment 
for benefit. 

Proceedings upon presentation of re- 
port for confirmation. 

Sec. 986. The application for the confirma- 
tion of the report shall be made to the su- 
preme court, at a term thereof held within 


TTTE CHARTER OF THE CITT OF NEW YORK. 


105 


The City of New York as constituted by this 
act, and in the judicial department within 
which the lands are situated. Upon the 
coming in of the said report, signed by the 
eaid commissioners, or any two of them, and 
upon the hearing of the application for the 
confirmation thereof, if title to said lands 
shall not have been theretofore vested In 
The City of New York, or if said lands are 
not being condemned for a public park, 
parkway, public square or place, and if per- 
sons who appear by the said report to be in- 
terested, either by assessment for benefit or 
award for damages, to the amount of a ma- 
jority in amount of the whole assessments 
and awards, shall appear and object to further 
proceedings upon the said report, the court 
shall order the proceeding to be discontin- 
ued; otherwise the said court shall by rule 
or order, after hearing any matter which may 
be alleged against the same, either confirm 
the said report in whole, or in part, or refer 
the tame, or a part thereof, to the said com- 
missioners for revisal and correction, or to 
new commissioners, to be appointed by the 
said court to reconsider the subject matter 
thereof, and the said commissioners to whom 
the said report or part thereof shall be so 
referred shall return the tame report or such 
part thereof, corrected and revised, or a new 
report to be made by them in the premises 
to the said court without unnecessary delay; 
and the same on being so returned shall be 
confirmed or again referred by the said court 
in manner aforesaid, as right and Justice 
shall require, and so from time to time until 
a report 6hall be made or returned in the 
premises, which the said court shall wholly 
confirm, and such report, when so confirmed 
by the said court, shall, unless set aside or 
reversed on appeal, be final and conclusive, 
as well upon The City of New York as upon 
the owners, lessees, persons, and parties in- 
terested and entitled unto the lands, tene- 
ments, hereditaments and premises mentioned 
in the said report; and also upon all other 
persons whomsoever. 

Duplicate copies of repott to be filed. 

Sec. 987. Duplicate copies of said report 
signed by the said commissioners, or any two 
of them, shall be filed by the corporation 
counsel of said city, one in the office of the 
comptroller, and the other in the office of 
the clerk of the supreme court, where the 
order confirming said report is entered. 

Appeals. 

Sec. 988. The City of New York or any 
party or person affected by the said proceed- 
ing and aggrieved by the said report when 
confirmed as aforesaid, may appeal to the ap- 
pellate division of the said court. Such ap- 
peal shall be taken and heard in the manner 
provided by the code of civil procedure and 
the rules and practice of the eaid court in 
relation to appeals In special proceedings, 
and such appeal shall be heard and deter- 
mined by such appellate division upon tho 
merits both as to matters of law and fact. 
But the taking of an appeal by any person 
or persons shall not operate to stay the pro- 
ceedings under this act, except as to the par- 
ticular parcel of real estate with which the 
appeal is concerned; and the order confirm- 
ing the said report shall be deemed to be 
final and conclusive upon all parties and per- 
sons affected thereby who have not appealed. 
Such appeals shall be heard upon the evi- 
dence taken before the said commissioners, or 
such part or portion thereof as the court at 
special term may certify, or the parties to 
aaid appeal may agree upon as sufficient to 


present the merits of the questions in re- 
spect to which such appeal shall be had, and 
on affidavits as to irregularities which have 
been presented to the court at special term 
upon the coming in of such report of said 
commissioners. When an order confirming 
a report shall be reversed upon appeal, the 
commissioners to whom such report shall be 
referred for amendment, correction, or re- 
vieal, shall have power to make such addi- 
tional assessment as may he neoessary. 

Appeal to court of appeals authorized. 

Sec. 989. An appeal to the court of appeals 
may be taken by the city or any person or 
party interested in the said proceeding and 
aggrieved by the order of the appellate di- 
vision. Such appeal may be taken within 
sixty days, and heard in the manner provided 
by the code of civil procedure and the rules 
and practice of the court of appeals in rela- 
tion to appeals in special proceedings. The 
court of appeals may affirm or reverse the 
order appealed from, and may make such or- 
der or dii^ctiofi as shall be appropriate to 
the case, whether for a rehearing of the 
same before the commissioners, or for final 
confirmation of the report or otherwise. If 
the report is confirmed, the court of appeals 
shall enter a final order in the proceedings 
which shall be binding upon all persons hav- 
ing any interest in the property or franchises 
condemned, and directing that compensa- 
tion be made, pursuant to the determination 
of the commissioners, and the city shall 
thereupon be entitled to take and hold for- 
ever the property and franchises condemned 
for the public use. Payment of the com- 
pensation into the court to the credit of any 
person or corporation mentioned in said or- 
der, in case tender thereof shall have been 
refused by such person or corporation, shall 
be deemed a payment within the provislohs 
of this act. 

Vesting of title. 

Sec. 990. Should the board of estimate and 
apportionment at any time deem it for the 
public Interest that the title to the lands and 
premises required for any street or park 
heretofore or hereafter laid out, wid- 
ened, altered, extended, or otherwise 
Improved, should be acquired by The 
City of New York at a fixed or spe- 
cified time, the said board of estimate 
and apportionment may direct, by a three- 
fourths vote, where no buildings are upon 
such lands, that upon the date of the filing 
of the oath of the commissioners of estimate 
and assessment, as provided for in this chap- 
ter, or upon a specified date thereafter, and 
where there are buildings upon such lands, 
that upon a date not less than six months 
from the date of the filing of said oaths the 
title to any piece or parcel of land lying 
within the lines of any such street or park, 
shall be vested in The City of New York. 
Thereafter, wlun the said commissioners 
shall have taken and filed said oath, upon the 
date of such filing or upon such subsequent 
date as may be specified where no buildings 
are upon such lands, and where there are 
buildings upon such lands upon the date 
specified by said board of estimate and ap- 
portionment, either before or after the filing 
of such oath, the same being nci less than 
six months from the date of said filing. The 
City of New York shall become and be seized 
in fee of said lands, tenements, and heredita- 
ments in the said resolution mentioned, that 
shall or may be so required as aforesaid, the 
same to be held, appropriated, converted, and 
used to and for such purpose accordingly, in 


like manner as are other public streets and 
parks, respectively, in the said city. In such 
cases interest at the legal rate upon the sum 
or sums to which the owners, lessees, parties 
or persons are justly entitled upon the date 
of vesting of tltl£ in The City of New 
York, as aforesaid, from said date to the date 
of the report of the commissioners shall be 
allowed by the commissioners as part of 
the compensation to which such owners, 
lessees, parties or persons are entitled. In 
all other cases, title, as aforesaid, shall vest 
in The City of New York upon the confirma- 
tion by the court of the report of the com- 
missioners. Upon the vesting of title The 
City of New York, or any person or persons 
acting under its authority, may immediately, 
or at any time thereafter, take possession of 
the same, or any part or parts thereof, with- 
out any suit or proceeding at law for that pur- 
pose. The title acquired by The City of New 
York to lands and premises required for a 
street, shall be In trust, that the same be 
appropriated and kept open for, or as part 
of a public street, forever, In like manner 
as the other streets in the city are and of 
right ought to be. If any individual or 
corporation before the appointment of com- 
missioners of estimate and assessment has 
acquired by private grant, prescription or 
otherwise, any easement for the purpose of 
laying or maintaining, in lands to be acquired 
for street purposes as herein provided, un- 
derground pipes or conduits for the distribu- 
tion of water, gas, steam or electricity, or 
for pneumatic service, such easement shall 
not be extinguished, but the title to th« 
lands so to be acquired for street purposes 
shall be taken subject to such easement; 
provided, however, that nothing herein con- 
tained shall be so construed as to limit the 
power of The City of New York to acquire 
by purchase or by condemnation proceedings 
the entire plant or service of such individual 
or corporation or to acquire such easement in 
such street in any other appropriate proceed- 
ings. The title acquired by the city of New 
York to lands and premises required for a 
park shall be a fee simple absolute. — As 
amended by Laws of 1903, Chapter 418. 

Within wlint time proceedings to be 
completed) removal of commission- 
ers. 

Sec. 991. The commissioners appointed in 
pursuance of this title shall complete said 
proceedings on their part within six months 
from the time of their appointment, un- 
der penalty of forfeiting all fees to 
which they would be entitled, unless an 
extension of time be given to them by the 
supreme court, which extension shall only 
be granted in the discretion of the court, 
upon a written petition containing a full 
statement by such commissioners, of the 
reasons necessary for such an extension, 
and upon notice to the corporation counsel, 
and to the parties, and their attorneys who 
have appeared in said proceeding. At least 
five days’ notice of the application for such 
extension shall be given by the corporation 
counsel to all persdns who have appeared in 
said proceedings, and have specially request- 
ed that notice of any such application be 
served upon them. Upon such application, 
the court shall have power to make such 
order in the premises in respect to the time 
and manner of completing the report of said 
commissioners, and in respect to the taking 
and submission of the proofs of the parties 
interested, as will enable or require the 
commissioners to complete said proceedings 
on their part with reasonable dispatch; and 


106 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


If It shall appear that the said proceeding has 
been delayed by reason of the Inattention, 
neglect or refusal of said commissioners, or 
any of them, to act or attend, or of the fail- 
ure of a majority of them to agree upon a 
report, the court may remove the commis- 
sioner or commissioners so neglecting or re- 
fusing, or the commissioners failing to agree, 
and appoint a suitable person or persons in 
his or their place. And the said court may, 
at any time, remove any of said commis- 
sioners of estimate and assessment who, in 
its judgment, shall be incapable of serving, 
or who shall, for any reason, in Its judg- 
ment, be an unfit person to serve as such 
commissioner. The cause of such removal 
shall bo specified in the order making the 
same. 

Owners may convey to the city. 

Sec. 992. The owners of land and of all the 
estate therein embraced within the lines of 
any street laid down and sliown on the map 
or plan of The City of New York, and com- 
prising all the land within said lines in an 
entire block in extent, may, without com- 
pensation and at their own expense, convey 
all their right, title, and interest there- 
in, providing the same shall be free 
from incumbrances inconsistent with 
the title to be acquired by the 
city, to The City of New York, and upon 
the delivery of such conveyances to the cor- 
poration counsel of said city with the money 
necessary to record such conveyances, and 
affidavits made by all such owners to the ef- 
fect that the persons making them are the 
owners of the estates in such lands so con- 
veyed by them, respectively, and stating their 
interests, and that such estates in such lands 
are free of all incumbrances, except as afore- 
said, together with abstracts of title and com- 
plete searches, if desired by such corporation 
counsel, it shall be the duty of such cor- 
poration counsel to examine such convey- 
ances and papers, and if such title shall not 
be rejected for good cause, by such corpora- 
tion counsel, he shall cause the said convey- 
ances to be recorded in the office in which 
conveyances of real estate are recorded in 
the county in which such lands are located 
within sixty days after their delivery to him, 
and flie them with the comptroller of such 
city, and thereupon The City of New York 
shall become vested with the title to said 
lands to the same effect and extent as if they 
had been acquired by a proceeding taken for 
the opening of that portion of said street; 
after the making and acceptance of such con- 
veyances, no proceedings to open the lands 
so conveyed shall be taken or maintained, 
nor shall the lands fronting on that portion 
of the street so conveyed, and extending to 
the center of the block on either side of such 
portion of said street so conveyed, be charge- 
able with any portion of the expense of open- 
ing the residue or any portion of the residue 
of such street, except the due and fair pro- 
portion of the awards that may be made tor 
buildings as aforesaid. 

Subdivision of plots. 

Sec. 993. If, at any time after the filing of 
the maps showing the laying out of streets 
by proper municipal authority, the owner or 
owners of any lot of land bounded on all sides 
by streets, and not laid out as and for a 
public square, place or park, shall desire to 
subdivide such plot and give public right-of- 
way into or through such plot, he, she, or 
they may submit two sets of maps, plans, c 
surveys of such plot and of such proposed 
right-of-way, showing the width, which shall 


not be less than thirty feet, and the location, 
extent, and direction of the same, and the 
proposed grade therefor, to the local boards 
of the borough where said land is located for 
approval; and if the same shall be approved 
by said local boards at a joint session there- 
of, and the owner or owners aforesaid shall 
immediately thereafter convey in such form 
as shall be approved by the corporation 
counsel, the title to the land required for 
such right-of-way, free and clear from all in- 
cumbrances, to The City of New York in 
trust as and for a public street, the same 
shall from that time be and become an opened 
public street, the same as if it had been laid 
out and opened as other streets are or ought 
to be; and the maps, plans, or surveys there- 
of, and of the grades therefor, aforesaid, 
shall immediately thereafter be certified by 
the city clerk, and one set thereof shall be 
Sled and remain of record in the office in 
which conveyances of real estate are recorded 
in the county in which such land is located, 
and the other set thereof in the office of the 
corporation counsel of said city. 

City may agree with owners. 

Sec. 994. It shall be lawful for the city at 
any time or times, either before or after the 
appointment of commissioners in the prem- 
ises, for any of the purposes aforesaid, to 
agree with the owners, lessees, parties, or 
persons entitled unto or interested in the 
lands, tenements, hereditaments, and premises, 
that either will be benefited by, or may be re- 
quired for the purpose of, making the opera- 
tion and improvement intended to be made, 
or with any or with either of such 
owners or other parties interested 
therein, for and about the cession of 
the lands, tenements, hereditaments, and 
premises required of him, her, or them, re- 
spectively, for the purpose of making such 
said intended operation and improvement, 
and for and about the compensation and re- 
compense to be made to him, her, or them, 
for the same, or for and about the allowance, 
or sum or sums to be allowed and paid by 
such owners and parties, respectively, or by 
any, or either, of them, for the benefit and 
advantage of the street or park or section 
thereof so. to b.» opened, or laid out and 
formed, or the extension, enlargement, or 
other improvement of the street or park so 
to be extended, enlarged, or otherwise im- 
proved, to him, her, or them, over and above 
the value of the lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments and premises that may be re- 
quired if any lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments or premises shall be required of him, 
her or them, for the purpose of opening, lay- 
ing out, and forming or extending, enlarging, 
or otherwise Improving the same, and in case 
of any such agreement or agreements, with 
part only of the said owners and parties en- 
titled unto and interested in the said lauds, 
tenements, hereditaments, and premises oo 
required for the purpose of making any such 
operation and improvement as aforesaid, or 
to be benefited thereby, the same shall be 
valid and binding upon the parties thereto, 
and the said commissioners shall, neverthe- 
less, enter upon and make or proceed with 
their said estimate and assessment, and make 
report to the said court, as to the residue of 
the said lands, tenements, hereditaments, and 
premises required for the said purpose of 
making such said operation and improvement, 
or to be benefited thereby, concerning which 
the owners thereof and parties interested 
therein shall not agree; and said report, when 
confirmed, shall be of like force and effect in 
regard to the matters comprised therein, as if 
no such agreement as to the part of the prem- 
ises had been made. 


City entitled to compensation and lia- 
ble to assessment. 

Sec. 995. If any lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments or premises belonging to The City of 
New York, or wherein it may be interested, 
shall be required for any of the purposes 
aforesaid, or shall be benefited by any such 
operation and Improvement as hereinbefore 
mentioned, the city shall be entitled to 
compensation and recompense for the 
loss and damage it may sustain, and 
shall be bound to allow and pay 

for the benefit and advantage it may be 
deemed to acquire thereby, in like manner 
as other owners and proprietors of lands 
and premises required for the purpose of 
making the said operation and improvement, 
or deemed to be benefited thereby; and it 
shall be lawful for the said commissioners of 
estimate and assessment, and they are hereby 
directed in such, each and every case, to 
estimate and assess upon the principals, and 
in the manner herein aforesaid; and to report 
the sum or sums which, in their opinion, 
ought to be allowed and paid to or by the 
city for the said loss and damage, or for the 
said benefit or advantage, as the case may be, 
to the city, by and in consequence of said 
operation and improvements of opening the 
said street or park, or section thereof so to 
be opened, or laying out, or forming, or ex- 
i tending, enlarging or otherwise improving 
! the same, so to be laid out and formed, or ex- 
tended, enlarged or otherwise improved, aa 
the case may be. It shall not, however, be 
lawful to lay or impose any assessment what- 
ever on any public park, square, or place, or 
street, road or avenue, but all such assess- 
ments which may be properly payable by the 
city shall be assessed against it in a gross 
sum in each and every such proceeding. 

Contracts of landlord nud tenant) how 
affected. 

Sec. 996. In all cases where the whole of 
any lot or parcel of land or other premises, 
under lease or other contract, shall be taken 
for any of the purposes aforesaid, by Virtue 
of this title, all the covenants, contracts and 
engagements between landlord and tenant, 
or any other contracting parties, touching the 
same, or any part thereof, shall, upon the 
vesting of the title in The City of New York, 
cease and determine and be absolutely dis- 
charged; and in all cases where part only of 
any lot or parcel of land, or other premises, 
so under lease or other contract, shall be so 
taken for any of the purposes aforesaid all 
contracts and engagements respecting the 
same shall, upon such vesting of title, cease, 
determine and be absolutely discharged as 
to the part thereof so taken, but shall re- 
main valid and obligatory as to the residue 
thereof, and the rents, considerations an 1 
payments reserved or payable, and to be paid, 
for or in respect to the same, shall be so 
apportioned as that the part thereof justly 
and equitably payable, or that ought to bo 
paid, for such said residue thereof, and no 
more shall be demanded or paid, or recover- 
able, for or in respect of the same. 

Corporation counsel to represent in- 
terests of city before commissioners, 
and provide clerks and offices; ex- 
penses. 

Sec. 997. It shall be the duty of the cor- 
poration counsel to furnish the commission- 
ers of estimate and assessment who may 
be appointed in any proceeding to open, 
widen, extend, alter, or close any street, 
park or parkway in said city, such necessary 
clerks and other employes, and to provide 
such suitable offices as they may require to 
enable them to fully and satisfactorily dls- 
' charge the duties imposed upon them by this 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


107 


chapter; the corporation counsel shall, either 
In person or by such assistant or counsel ae 
he shall designate for the purpose, appear tor 
and protect the interests of the city in all 
proceedings in court and before the commis- 
sioners. All expenses for searcher’s or sur- 
veyor’s fees, and such other necessary ex- 
penses and disbursements which The City of 
New York shall incur under the provisions 
of this section shall be paid by the comp- 
troller out of the fund for street and park 
openings provided for by existing laws, and 
shall be borne and reimbursed and paid to 
The City of New York by the parties and 
persons interested and entitled, as owners or 
otherwise, unto and in the lands, tenements, 
hereditaments, and premises deemed to be 
benefited thereby, and the same shall be in- 
cluded in and taxed by the court, upon due 
proof of the services rendered, and disburse- 
ments charged as part of the necessary costs 
and expenses of the said proceedings; but 
such expenses and disbursements shall not 
be included in the assessments for benefit 
until after they have been taxed before a 
justice of the supreme court, in the appro- 
priate department. 

Other costs nnd charges. 

Sec. 998. Except as hereinbefore otherwise 
provided, no costs or charges of the said 
commissioners or others shall be paid or al- 
lowed for any service performed under this 
title, unless the same shall be taxed by the 
said court after notice given as provided In 
the following section. Upon such taxation, 
due proof of the nature and extent of the 
services rendered and disbursements charged 
shall be furnished, and no unnecessary cost 
or charges shall be allowed. Each Of the 
commissioners of estimate and assessment 
shall receive ten dollars for each day upon 
which he attends a meeting of the said com- 
missioners and is actually and necessarily 
employed in the performance of the duties 
imposed upon them by this act, at the offices 
provided for said commissioners by the bu- 
reau of street openings in the law depart- 
ment, or at a meeting of the commissioners 
to view r the premises. All such costs, fees 
and expenses or disbursements, which by law 
are required to be taxed as in this chapter 
provided, shall be stated in detail in the bill 
of costs and charges and expenses, and shall 
be accompanied by such proof of the reason- 
ableness and necessity thereof, as is now re- 
quired by law and the practice of the said 
court upon taxation of costs and disburse- 
ments in other special proceedings or actions 
in said court. Provided however that in any 
proceedings instituted on behalf of the de- 
partment of docks for the acquisition of 
property for the improvement of the water 
front of the city which is of a difficult or 
unusual character, the said court may upon 
taxing said costs and expenses make such 
additional allowances to any or all of said 
commissioners as may to it appear just and 
equitable, upon such proof as may be sub- 
mitted concerning the nature and extent of 
the services thus rendered by the commis- 
sioners; such extra allowances not, how- 
ever, in any instance to exceed the aggre- 
gate per diem compensation hereinabove pro- 
vided for. — As amended by Laws of 1903, 
Chapter C36. 

Taxation of costs. 

Sec. 999. A bill of said costs, charges, and 
expenses shall be filed in the office of the 
clerk of the county in which the order ap- 
pointing the said commissioners has been 
entered, at least ten da’ys before tho 
same shall be presented for taxation. 
There shall be annexed a statement of the 
amounts, if any, previously taxed, to whom 
the same were payable, and the date of such 


taxation. A notice of at least ten days shall 
be published in the “City Record,” and the 
corporation newspapers, and served upon the 
corporation counsel, of the time and place 
of taxing said costs, charges, and expenses, 
w'hich shall be thereupon taxed by a justice 
of the supreme court, or a referee under his 
special order, and before the report of said 
commissioners shall be presented for con- 
firmation. It shall be the duty of the cor- 
poration counsel to present to the Justice or 
referee upon such taxation his certificate in 
writing that the Items of costs, charges and 
expenses have been audited and examined 
by him, and also setting forth the result 
of such audit and examination. On said final 
taxation there may be a retaxation of any 
bill previously taxed in the same proceeding, 
if sufficient reason therefor be made to ap- 
pear. 

Diacontinnnnce of proceedings. 

Sec. 1000. The board of estimate and ap- 
portionment is authorized and empowered 
to discontinue any and all legal proceedings 
taken for opening, widening, straightening, 
extending, altering, or closing streets or 
parks or parts thereof, at any time before 
title to the lands and premises to be thereby 
acquired shall have vested in The City of New 
York, if, in Its opinion, the public interest 
requires such discontinuance, and with 
power to cause new proceedings to be taken 
in such cases for the appointment of new 
commissioners. 

But in the case of such discontinuance the 
reasonable actual cash disbursements neces- 
sarily Incurred and made in good faith by 
any party interested shall be paid by The 
City of New York after the same shall have 
been taxed by a justice of the supreme court, 
or by a referee under his special order, upon 
ten days’ notice of such taxation being pre- 
viously given to the corporation counsel. 

Damages for land taken; when to be 

paid. 

Sec. 1001. All damages awarded by the 
commissioners of estimate and assessment 
with interest thereon from the date of said 
report, and all costs and expenses which 
may be taxed, shall be paid by The City of 
New York to the respective persons and 
bodies politic or corporate mentioned or re- 
ferred to in said report, or in whose favor 
such costs or expenses shall be taxed. In- 
terest shall cease to run on sums awarded 
as damages six months after the date of the 
confirmation of said report unless within that 
time demand therefor be made upon the 
comptroller. Said damages, costs, and ex- 
penses shall be paid from the fund for street 
and park openings provided for in this act, 
and by existing laws. The person or per- 
sons to whom awards shall be made in such 
proceedings, and the person or persons in 
whose favor costs and expenses may be 
taxed, shall not have been an action at law 
against The City of New York for such 
awards, costs, or expenses, but the court in 
w'hich said proceedings have been had, 
upon the application of any such person or 
persons, in case of the failure of the 
comptroller of said city to pay the same 
within thirty days after demand therefor-, 
shall require and di^bet the comptroller to 
pay said awards, costs and expenses from the 
said fund, and enforce said order or mandate 
in the same manner as other orders and man- 
dates of said court are enforced. Provided, 
however, that whenever the amount of dam- 
ages awardee in any report, together with 
the costs of the commissioners, shall exceed 
the balance remaining in said fund after de- 
ducting all outstanding claims against said 


balance, the comptroller shall and he is 
hereby authorized to raise, by the issue and 
sale of revenue bonds, such amounts as shall 
be necessary to pay such damages, costs, and 
expenses, and said court, upon the application 
of any person or persons in whose favor, or 
to whom awards shall be made in such pro- 
ceeding, and the person or persons in whose 
favor costs and expenses may be taxed, may 
require or direct the comptroller to raise the 
money necessary to enable him to pay such 
awards, costs and expenses, and from such 
fund to pay the same, except that when any 
sum or sums shall in said report be made 
to unknown owners, the supreme court shall, 
upon the application of said city of New York, 
or of any person entitled to, or claiming to 
be interested in the lands, tenements, or her- 
editaments for which said awards have been 
made, or any part thereof, either direct the 
same to be retained by the comptroller, or 
to be paid into the supreme court, until the 
title thereto, or of the respective estates and 
interests o f all parties therein shall be deter- 
mined by said court, and upon such applica- 
tion, the said court may take the proof and 
testimony of the claimant or claimants, or 
parties interested in the lands for which said 
awards have beer, made, or refer the matter 
to a referee for such purpose. 

Moneys of persons under disability; 

how disposed of; moneys paid to 

wrung person. 

Sec. 1002. Whenever the owners and pro- 
prietors of any such lands, tenements, here- 
ditaments and premises so to be taken for 
any of the purposes aforesaid or the party 
or parties, person or persons interested there- 
in, or any, or either of them, the said owners, 
proprietors, parties or persons in w'hose favor 
any such sum or sums, or compensation shall 
be so reported, shall be under the age of 
twenty-one years, non compos mentis, or ab- 
sent from The City of New York, and also 
in all cases where the name or names of the 
owner or owners, parties or persons entitled 
unto or interested in any lands, tenements, 
hereditaments, or premises that may be so 
taken for any of the purposes aforesaid, shall 
not be set forth or mentioned in the said 
report, or where the said owners, parties, or 
persons, respectively, being named therein, 
can not upon diligent ’nquiry be found, it 
shall be the duty of the city to pay the sum 
or sums mentioned in the said report, pay- 
able or that would be coming to such 
owners, proprietors, parties and persons, 
respectively, into the said supreme court, 
to be secured, disposed of, and invest- 
ed as the said court shall direct, and 
such payment shall be as valid and effectual, 
in all respects, as if made to the said own- 
ers, proprietors, parties, and persons, respec- 
tively, themselves, according to their just 
rights, as if they had been known and had 
all been present, of full age, and compos 
mentis; and in default of such payment 
the said city of New York shall be and 
remain liable for the amount of the said 
sums of money with law'ful interest thereon 
from a day one year after the date upon 
which title vested in The City of New' York 
to the person or persons who may thereafter 
be found entitled to the same. And pro- 
vided also, that in all. and each, and every 
case and cases, where any such sum or sums, 
or compensations, so to be reported by the 
said commissioners in favor of any person 
or persons, o party or parties whatsoever, 
whether named or not named in the said re- 
port, shall be paid to any person or persons, 
or party or parties whomsoever, when the 
same shall of right belong, and ought to have 
been paid, to some other person or peruwiB, 


108 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


or party or parties, It shall be lawful for 
the person or persons, or party or parties, 
to whom the same ought to have been paid, 
to sue for and recover the same, with lawful 
Interest and costs of suit, as so much money 
Wad and received to his, her or their use, by 
the person or persons, party or parties, re- 
spectively, to whom the same shall have been 
so paid. 

.Sums to be equally and proportionate- 
ly assessed. 

Sec. 1003. All moneys paid under the pro- 
visions of this title by the city, except such 
part thereof as the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment shall direct to be borne and 
nald by The City of New York, shall be as- 
sessed equally and proportionately, as far 
as the same may be practicable, upon the 
lands and premises benefited by the im- 
provement, and shall be a lien and charge 
thereon, and shall be applied, levied and col- 
lected in the manner provided by law for 
the assessment, levy, and collection of sim- 
ilar expenses and disbursements for the re- 
imbursement of the city treasury. 

Sams assessed to be Ileus. 

Sec. 1004. The respective sums or assess- 
ments so to be assessed and reported by the 
said commissioners of estimate and assess- 
ment, as and ior the allowance to be made 
by the parties and persons, respectively, in 
the said report mentioned or referred to, 
and Intended as owners and proprietors of, 
or parties interested in, lands and premises 
deemed to be benefited, for the benefit and 
advantage of the street or park or section 
thereof, or of the extension, enlargement, or 
other Improvement of the street or park 
mentioned in the said report, shall be a lien 
or charge on the lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments, and premises, in the said report of 
the said commissioners mentioned, or upon 
the estate and interests of the respective 
owners, lessees, and parties interested 
in such said lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments, and premises for or on account 
of which the said respective sums shall 
be so assessed by the said commission- 
ers upon the said respective owners and 
proprietors thereof, or parties interested 
therein. The owners, proprietors and 
parties interested therein, and also the occu- 
pants, and each and every of them, shall, 
moreover, be respectively liable to pay on de- 
mand the respective sum or sums or assess- 
ments mentioned in the said report of the 
commissioners, at which the respective lands, 
tenements, hereditaments and premises so 
owned or occupied by him, her, or them, or 
wherein he, she, or they are so interested, 
or at which the owners and proprietors 
thereof shall be so assessed, to such person 
or persons as the city shall appoint to re- 
ceive the same. The said respective sums 
or assessments, with interest as in this act 
provided, may be recovered with all costs and 
charges by the city from and against the 
parties assessed, or the owner or owners of 
the respective lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments and premises whereon or in respect 
of .which the samo may be assessed, or set 
forth in the said report of the commission- 
ers, or from or against any or either of the 
said parties or owners, without joining any 
other or others of them, the said parties or 
owners therein, by action; provided, that 
nothing herein contained shall affect any 
agreement between landlord and tenant, on 
any other contracting parties respecting the 
payment of any such assessment or charges, 
but they shall be answerable to each other 
In the same manner as if the provisions in 
this title contained concerning the same had 
never been made; and if any money so to 
bo assessed, be paid by or collected or recov- 


ered from any person or persons when by 
agreement or by law the same ought to have 
been borne and paid by some other person 
or persons. It shall be lawful for the person 
or persons paying the same, or from whom I 
the same shall be recovered, by suit or other- 
wise, to sue for and recover the money so 
paid by or recovered from him or them, with 
interest and costs, as so much money paid 
for the use of the person or persons who 
ought to have paid the same, and the said 
report of the commissioners, with proof of 
payment, shall be conclusive evidence In 
such suit. 

Comptroller to publish notice of con- 
firmation of assessment, etc. 

Sec. 1005. It shall be the duty of the cor- 
poration counsel to transmit to the comp- 
troller, immediately after the confirmation 
of any assessment for a street or park open- 
ing, a duplicate oopy of the report of the 
commissioners of estimate and assessment 
relating thereto, and If such assessment af- 
fects property in boroughs other than the 
borough of Manhattan, a copy of the assess- 
ment list, and a certified copy of the order 
of the supreme court confirming the same, 
and it shall thereupon, be the duty of the 
comptroller to give public notice by adver- 
tisement, for at least ten days in the "City 
Record,” and the corporation newspapers as 
soon as practicable and within ten days after 
receipt thereof, that the same has been con- 
firmed, specifying the title of such assess- 
ment, the date of its confirmation by the 
supreme court, and also the date of entry 
in the record of titles of assessment kept in 
the bureau for the collection of assessments 
and of arrears of taxes and assessments, and 
of water rents, notifying all persons, owners 
of property, affected by any such assessment, 
that, unless the amount assessed for benefit 
,on any person or property shall be paid with- 
in sixty days after the date of said entry of 
any such assessment, interest shall there- 
after be collected theron as provided in the 
following section, and all provisions of law 
or ordinance requiring any other or different 
notice of assessments and interest thereon 
are repealed. 

Interest to be charged If not paid In 

sixty days. 

Sec. 1006. If any such assessment shall re- 
main unpaid for the period of sixty days after 
the date of entry thereof fn the said record 
of title and assessments, it shall be the duty 
of the officer authored to collect and re- 
ceive the amount of such assessment, to 
charge, collect and receive interest thereon, 
at the rate of seven per centum per annum; 
to be calculated to the date of payment from 
the date when such assessment became a 
lien as provided by section one hundred and 
fifty-nine of this act. 

Interest limited to excess In certain 

cases. 

Sec. 1007. Whenever an estimate aad assess- 
ment for loss and damage, and for benefit 
and advantage shall be made by the commis- 
sioners of estimate and assessment relative 
to the same person or persons, no interest 
shall be demanded from such person or per- 
sons upon the amount assessed for the benefit 
and advantage, except on the excess of the 
amount he is to pay over and above the I 
amount he is to receive for or in aonse- 
quence of any intervening time between the 
period fixed for the receipt of the amount \ 
of benefit and advantage and the payments of 
the amount of loss and damage. 


Notices In proceedings to open streets} 
bow published. 

Sec. 1008. Any notice now required, or here- 
after to be required, by lay to be published 
in any proceeding for the opening, extending, 
widening or altering any street or park in 
said city, shall hereafter be published in the 
“City Record,” and the corporation news- 
papers. Whenever handbills now or here- 
after may be required by la w to be posted in 
any such proceeding, they shall ife posted or 
affixed with paste or other adhesive substance 
in three conspicuous places upon or near the 
lands to be taken in such proceeding, and 
proof of such posting shall be sufficient evi- 
dence without further proof of said notice 
having remained posted during the whole of 
the period required by law. 

Application of previous sections. 

Sec. 1009. Nothing contained in title three 
of this chapter relating to the vacating and 
reduction of assessments shall apply to as- 
sessments made pursuant to this title. 

What included in word “street” as 
used In chapter. 

Sec. 1010. Whenever the word "street,” or 
the plural thereof, occurs in this chapter it 
shall be deemed to Include all that is includ- 
ed by the terms, “street, avenue, road, alley, 
lane, highway, boulevard, concourse, public 
square and public place,” or the plurals 
thereof, respectively. 

Order appointing commissioners to be 
filed in register's or county clerk’s 
office. 

Sec. 1011. It shall be the duty of the cor- 
poration counsel within ten days after the en- 
try of an order appointing commissioners in 
a proceeding authorized by this title, to file a 
copy of such order in the office of the register 
or county clerk of the county in which the 
land to be acquired is located. There shall 
be indorsed upon such copy order a reference 
to the section and block or the sections and 
blocks on the land map of such county which 
include the land to be taken by such pro- 
ceeding or abut thereon. The register or 
county clerk with whom such copy order shall 
be filed shall index in the index of conveyances 
on each block so Indorsed on said copy order 
a statement giving the title of said proceed- 
ing and the date of the entry of said order. 

TITLE 5. 

SALES OF LANDS FOR TAXES, AS- 
SESSMENTS AAD WATER RATES. 

When taxes anil water rents to be 
liens on lands assessed. 

Sec. 1017. All taxes and all assessments 
tor local improvements and all water rents, 
and the Interest and charges thereon, which 
may, in The City of New York, aa by this 
act constituted, hereafter be laid or may have 
heretofore been laid, upon any real estate 
now in said city, shall continue to be, until 
paid, a lien thereon, and shall be preferred 
in payment to all other charges. No as- 
sessments for any local improvements shall 
be deemed to be fully confirmed, so aa to be 
due and be a lien upon the property included 
in the assessment, until ten days after the ti- 
tle thereof, with the date of confirmation 
shall be entered with the date of such entry, 
in a record of the titles of assessments con- 
firmed, to be kept in the office of the collec- 
I tor of assessments and arrears. 

Comptroller to publish notice of con- 
firmation of assessments. 

See. 1018. It shall be the duty of the comp- 
I troller to give public notice, by advertise- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


109 


icent, for at least ten days. In the City Rec- 
ord and the corporation newspapers* as soon 
as practicable and within ten days after the 
confirmation of any assessment, for a local 
improvement, that the same has been con- 
firmed, specifying the title of such assess- 
ment, and the date of its confirmation, and 
also the date of entry in the record of titles 
of assessments kept in the office for the 
collection of assessments and of arrears of 
taxes and assessments, and of water rents, 
addressed as a class to all persons, owners 
of property affected by any such assessments, 
that unless the amount assessed for benefit 
on any person or property shall be paid 
within sixty days after the date of said entry 
of any such assessment. Interest shall be 
thereafter collected thereon as provided in 
the following section; and all provisions of 
law or ordinance requiring any different or 
other notice of assessments and interest 
thereon are hereby repealed. 

Interest to be charged if assessment 

unpaid lor sixty days. 

Sec. 1019. If any such assessment shall re- 
main unpaid for the period of sixty days 
after the date of entry thereof on the said 
record of titles of assessments, it shall be 
the duty of the officer authorized to collect 
and receive the amount of such assessment 
to charge, collect and receive Interest there- 
on, at the rate of seven per centum per an- 
num, to be calculated to the date of pay- 
ment from the date when such assessment 
became a lien as provided by section one 
hundred and fifty-ntne of this act. 

Rate. 

Sec. 1020. Interest shall hereafter be 
charged and collected at the rate of seven 
per centum per annum on all arrears of 
taxes and assessments returned to the col- 
lector of assessments and arrears from the 
time they become due until the date of pay- 
ment, or in case a sale has taken place, as 
provided in section ten hundred and twenty- 
seven, until the date of the certificate men- 
tioned in said section, and on the rents and 
charges for water from the time the taxes 
become due, to which they may be added 
as required by section ten hundred and 
twenty-five, until the same date respectively. 

Apportionment of assessment. 

Sec. 1021. If a sum of money in gross has 
been or shall be assessed for local improve- 
ments, upon any lands or premises in The 
City of New York, any person or persons 
claiming any divided or undivided part there- 
of may pay such part of the sums of money 
so assessed, also of the interest and charges 
due or charged thereon, as the comptroller 
may deem to be just and equitable; and the 
remainder of the sum of money so assessed, 
together with the interest and charges, shall 
be a lien upon the residue of the land and 
premises only, which residue may be sold in 
pursuance of the provisions of this act, to 
satisfy the residue of such assessment, in- 
terest, or charges, in the same manner as 
though the residue of said assessment had 
been imposed upon the residue of said land or 
premises. 

Commissioner of wafer supply, gas and 

electricity to transmit separate- ac- 
count for each wards penalty for 

wasting water. 

Sec. 1022. The commissioner of water sup- 
ply, gas and electricity shall, annually on 
the first day of August in each year, cause 
to be prepared and transmitted to the comp- 
troller a separate account for each section 
or ward of all lots on which the water rents 
for the preceding water year, including the 


extra charges to be included in said rents, 
as provided by this act, may remain unpaid, 
with the amount due on each lot, and shall, 
at the same time, notify the comptroller of 
the aggregate amount of such water rents 
so returned, and shall thereafter receive 
no payment on account of the same, 
but may, nevertheless, certify to the 
comptroller any overcharges, which shall, 
upon said certificate, be remitted by the 
comptroller at any time before settlement. 
The said commissioner of water supply, gas 
and electricity is hereby authorized to pre- 
scribe a penalty, not exceeding the sum of 
five dollars for each offense, for permitting 
water to be wasted, and for any violation of 
such reasonable rules as he may from time 
to time prescribe for the prevention of the 
waste of water, such fines shall be added to 
the water rents. 

Receiver of taxes to return arrears to 

the collector. 

Sec. 1023. The receiver of taxes shall, on the 
first day of June, in each year, make a return 
to the collector of assessments and arrears, 
of all taxes on leal estate and of water rates 
and rents, which have been added thereto, 
remaining unpaid, and shall notify the comp- 
troller of the aggregate amount of arrears 
so returned, and balance on his books the 
accounts of the arrears so returned, by charg- 
ing the amount thereof to the said collector, 
and shall thereafter receive no payments on 
accounts of arrears so returned, but may 
nevertheless certify to the collector of assess- 
ments and arrears any errors, which shall, 
upon such certificate, be corrected by the said 
collector any time before settlement. 

Division of notification of assess- 
ments* notifying taxpayer. 

Sec. 1023a. 1. There shall be a division of 
notification in the bureau for the collection 
of assessments and arrear's of taxes and as- 
sessments and of water rents in the depart- 
ment of finance in The City of New York, 
the chief officer of which shall be a notifica- 
tion clerk, who shall have two assistants. 
Said notification clerk and said assistants 
shall be appointed by the comptroller of The 
City of New York, and shall hold office during 
his pleasure, and discharge their duties under 
■•the supervision and direction of the collector 
of assessments and arrears. The salaries of 
the said notification clerk and of said assist- 
ant clerks shall not exceed fifty-five hundred 
dollars. 

2. The'owner of any lot, piece, or parcel of 
land in the borough of Manhattan in The City 
of New York or any person interested in such 
lot, piece or parcel, may file with such notifi- 
cation clerk a statement containing a brief 
description of such land, together with the 
section, block and lot number thereof 
aud a statement of the applicant’s interest 
therein, together with a written request that 
such lot, piece or parcel of land be regis- 
tered in the division of notification, in the 
name of the applicant. In the said state- 
ment the applicant shall designate a post 
office address to which notifications addressed 
to him shall be sent. The notification clerk 
shall thereupon register in a volume to be 
kept In said division as hereinafter provided, 
a brief description of such lot, piece or par- 
cel of laud corresponding to the description 
thereof in the statement so filed,' together 
with the name of the applicant and his post- 
office address and the date of such applica- 
tion. 

3. As soon as any assessment for a local 
improvement shall have been confirmed, in- 
cluding assessments confirmed by a court of 
record, and the list thereof shall have been 


entered and filed in the bureau tor the col- 
lection of assessments and arrears of taxes 
aud assessments, and of water rents, the 
said notification clerk and his assistants shall 
examine said assessment list and shall there- 
upon within twenty days after such confirma- 
tion mail a notice addressed to each person 
in whose name any lot. piece or parcel of 
land, affected by such assessment, is regis- 
tered, at the post-office address registered in 
the records of said division, enclosed in a 
post paid wrapper, which notice shall contain 
the brief description of the lot, plc-ce or par- 
cel of land registered in the name of the per- 
son to whom said notice is addressed, to- 
gether with the amount assessed thereon, 
date of confirmation, and title of the improve- 
ment for which said assessment is made, and 
a statement of the interest or penalty im- 
posed for the non-payment of the said assess- 
ment, and the date from which the interest 
or penalty will be computed. Failure to com- 
ply with the provisions of this act, however, 
shall in no manner affect the validity or col- 
lectibility of any assessment for legal Im- 
provement heretofore or hereafter confirmed, 
nor shall any claim arise or exist against 
The City of New York, the comptroller, the 
collector of assessments ajid arrears or any 
officer of said city by reason of such failure. 

4. The collector of assessments and arrears 
shall foV the purpose of this act provide one 
or more volumes for each section of the city, 
included within the borough of Manhattan, 
as the same shall appear upon the tax maps 
of The City of New York, each of which vol- 
umes shall be ruled and printed in a proper 
and convenient manner. 

Wafer rents* to be provided for In as- 
sessment- rolls. 

Sec. 1024. There shall be ruled in the year- 
ly assessment-rolls of each section or ward 
a column headed "water rents” in which im- 
mediately after the confirmation of such as- 
sessment-rolls, the collector of assessments 
and arrears shall cause to be entered opposite 
the ward, lot, town block and map numbers 
of the property on which the said arrears may 
be due, the amounts due for “water rents,’’ 
as transmitted to him by the com- 
missioner of water supply, gas and elec- 
tricity, In accordance with the law, 
and the same shall be collected at the same 
time and in the same manner with the taxes 
to which they shall be added. 

Arrears likewise to be provided for. 

Sec. 1025. Thero shail be ruled in yearly 
assessment-rolls of the taxes in each section 
or ward, a column headed "arrears," in 
which the collector of assessments and arrears 
shall annually, before any taxes for the yes* 
are collected, cause to be entered the war* 
“arrears” or "sold,” according as the fact 
may be, opposite to the ward, lot, town 
block and map numbers on which any arrears 
of taxes, or of taxes with the water rent 
added, shall be due, or on which any assess- 
ment shall remain unpaid which was due or 
confirmed one month prior to the first of June, 
then last past, or which may have been sold 
for assessments, taxes or water rents, and yet 
be redeemable. 

Bills for tnxes to show arrears. 

Sec. 1026. There shall be ruled a column for 
"arrears” in every biil rendered for taxes for 
lots on which said arrears or assessments, 
or taxes with water tents added, may be 
due, as aforesaid, or may have been sold 
and yet be redeemable, iD which shall bo 
written opposite the entry of the ward, lot, 
town block and qiap number of said lot, 
"arrears” or ”6old,” according as the fact 
may be; and at the bottom of sa(d bill shgll 


110 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF ' NEW YORK. 


be printed: “the columns for arrears indicate 
lots sold for arrears, or to be sold therefoi ; 
arrears to be paid and lots redeemed at the 
office of the collector of assessments and ar- 
rears.’’ 

Sales of lands for taxes and assess- 
ments; proceedings. 

Sec. 1027. Whenever any tax on lands or 
tenements, or any assessments on lands or 
tenements for local improvements, shall re- 
main unpaid for the term of three years 
from the time the same shall have been con- 
firmed, and also whenever any rents for water 
in said city shall have been due and unpaid 
for the term of four years from the time the 
same shall have been due, it shall and may be 
lawful, for the collector of assessments and 
arrears, under the direction of the comp- 
troller, to advertise the said lands and tene- 
ments or any of them for sale, and by such 
advertisement the owner or owners of such 
lands and tenements respectively shall be re- 
quired to pay the amount of such tax, as- 
sessment, or water rents so remaining unpaid, 
together with the interest thereon at the rate 
of seven per centum per annum to the time 
of payment, with the charges of such notice 
and advertisement, to the said collector, and 
notice shall be given by such advertisement 
that if default shall be made in such pay- 
ment such lands and tenements will be sold 
at public auction at a day and place therein 
to be specified, for the lowest term of years 
at w’hich any person or persons shall offer 
to take the same in consideration of ad- 
vancing the said tax, assessment, cr 
water rents, as the case may be, and the 
interest thereon as aforesaid to the time of 
sale, and the charges of the above mentioned 
notices and advertisement and all other costs 
and charges accrued thereon; afid if, notwith- 
standing such notice, the owner or owners 
shall refuse or neglect to pay such tax, as- 
sessment, or water rents, with the interests 
as aforesaid, and the charges attending such 
notice and advertisement, then it shall and 
may be lawful for the said collector under 
the direction of the said comptroller, to 
cause such lands and tenements to be sold 
at public auction for a term of years, for the 
purpose and in the manner expressed in the 
said advertisement, and such sale shall be 
made on the day and at the place for that 
purpose mentioned in the said advertisement, 
and shall be continued from time to time, 
if necessary, until all the lands and tene- 
ments so advertised shall be sold; and the 
said collector shall give to the purchaser or 
purchasers of any such lands and tenements 
a certificate of sale, in writing, describing ■ 
the lands and tenements so purchased, the 
term of years for which the same shall have 
been sold, the sum paid therefor, and the 
time when the purchaser will be entitled to 
to a lease of the said lands and tenements. 
But no houses or lots, or improved er unim- 
proved lands, in The City of New York, shall 
be hereafter sold cr leased it public auc- 
tion for the non-payment ot any tax, assess- 
ment, or water rents which may be due 
thereon, unless notice of such sale shall have 
been published once in each week success- 
ively for three months in the City Record 
and the corporation newspapers, which ad- 
vertisement shall contain, appended to said 
notice, a particular and detailed statement 
of the property to be sold for taxes, assess- 
ments or water rents; or the said detailed 
statement and description, instead of being 
published in the City Record and the corpora- 
tion newspapers, shall, at the option of the 
said comptroller, be printed in a pamphlet, in 
which case copies of the pamphlet shall be 
deposited in the office of the said collector, 
and shall be delivered to any person apply- 
ing therefor. And the notice provided for 


In this section to be given of the sale of 
houses and lots and improved and unim- 
proved lands shall also state that the detailed 
statement of the taxes, assessments, or 
water rents, and the ownership of the prop- 
erty taxes assessed, and on which the water 
rents are unpaid, is published in the City 
Record and the corporation newspapers, or 
in a pamphlet, as the case may be, and that 
copies of the pamphlet are deposited in the 
office of the said collector, and will be de- 
livered to any person applying for the same. 
I No other notice or demand of the tax, as- 
sessment or water rent shall be required to 
authorize the sale of any lands and tene- 
ments as hereinbefore provided. 

Contiguous lots to be advertised as 

one parcel. 

Sec. 1028. In advertising houses and lots 
and improved or unimproved lands to be sold 
for the non-payment of taxes and assessments 
or water rents, it shall be the duty of the 
collector of assessments and arrears to ad- 
vertise all the houses and lots or other lands 
lying contiguous to each other and belonging 
to the same owner in one parcel, unless oth- 
erwise requested by such owner, but he may 
sell separately the said houses and lots as 
the same may have been assessed. 

Postponement of sales. 

Sec. 1029. It shall be lawful for the comp- 
troller to suspend or postpone any sale or 
sales of lands and tenements or any portion 
thereof which shall have been advertised for 
sale, to any time not exceeding fifteen months 
from the day specified in any such advertise- 
ment. All sales which shall be so postponed 
or suspended shall be made without further 
advertisement, other than a general notice 
of such postponement, to be published in the 
City Record and the corporation newspapers. 

Sales for taxes and ussessmeuts to be 

conducted bj- the collector of assess- 
ments und arrears; provision for re- 
payment of purchase money when the 

sale is vacated. 

Sec. 1030. The collector of assessments and 
arrears or his assistant shall conduct the 
sales hereinbefore provided to be made, and 
no auctioneer other than said collector or 
his assistant shall be employed to make such 
sale, and no auctioneer’s fees shall be charged 
thereon. Certificates of sale shall be made 
and delivered to the purchaser without charge 
upon payment of the amounts therein shown 
to be due. And all certificates of sale, not 
paid for within thirty days following the date 
of sale, may be cancelled by the collector of 
; assessments and arrears and the sales re- 
lating thereto declared void. In case any sale 
shall be vacated or cancelled, the purchaser, 
his legal representative or assign, shall be 
repaid the amount paid by him at such sale, 
with interest thereon from the time of such 
payment. 

Corporation may bid in property. 

Sec. 1031. It shall be lawful for the collec- 
tor of assessments and arrears, at any sale of 
lands and tenements in The City of New 
York, for taxes, assessments or water rents, 
to bid in, for The City of New York, every 
lot and premises so put up for sale for which 
no person shall offer to bid, and certificates 
of such sales shall be made by the said col- 
lector to The City of New York in the form 
and manner prescribed for individuals. All 
such purchases shall be subject to the same 
rights of redemption as purchases by indi- 
viduals; and if the lands and tenements sold 
shall not be redeemed, or shall not have been 
assigned, the comptroller of the city shal. 
execute a lease therefor to The City of New 
York, with the same effect as in cases of 
leases to individuals in this title provided. 


Id.; bow assigned. 

Sec. 1032. It shafl be the duty of said col- 
lector, in all cases of purchases of lands and 
tenements by The City of New York for taxes, 
assessments or w r ater rents, to assign any and 
all such purchases to any person who shall 
at any time within one year from the time 
when such purchases were made, offer to 
take the same, upon his or her 
paying to the said collector of as- 
sessments and arrears, for the use of the 
city, the purchase money, with seven per 
centum Interest thereon. The person so re- 
ceiving the assignment shall be entitled, 
upon the redemption of the property, to re- 
ceive the amount so paid by him or her in 
the city with interest from the time of such 
payment at the rate and In the same manner 
as if he or she had purchased the property 
at a sale for taxes, assessments or water 
rents. 

Certificates where consolidated mn- 

nieipality has bid in property. 

Sec. 1033. In cases where lands within the 
boundaries of any of the municipal corpora- 
tions or parts of municipal corporations by 
this act, consolidated with the corporation 
known as the mayor, aldermen and common- 
alty of the city of New York, have been 
sold for taxes and assessments and the title 
upon such sales has passed to either of said 
municipal corporations or parts of munici- 
pal corporations, such title is hereby trans- 
ferred te and vested in the corporation of 
The City of New York as constituted by 
this act; and said corporation shall have all 
the rights, privileges, and property of its 
predecessor in said title and the same pow- 
ers and privileges in respect to the enforce- 
ment of the same or the sale or lease there- 
of, and the comptroller of the city shall 
control the same in all respects, as by stat- 
ute in such cases already made and pro- 
vided. 

Redemption of lands purchased by 

corporation. 

Sec. 1034. In all cases of lands and tene- 
ments purchased by The City of New York 
for taxes, assessments, or water rents, in 
which the same shall not have been assigned, 
any person claiming title to such lands and 
tenements, or any other person, may redeem 
the same in like manner and to the same ef- 
fect as in cases of individual purchases, by 
paying, in the manner provided by law, for 
the use of the said city, the purchase money 
with seven per centum interest thereon, to- 
gether with any and all expenses which shall 
have accrued since the sale; and in all cases 
where lands and tenements shall be conveyed 
to the said city pursuant to the provisions 
of this title, it shall be the duty of the said 
Collector in the name of the said city, to 
cause notices to be served in the manner in 
this title provided. 

Corporation to take possession of un- 
claimed lands. 

Sec. 1035. It shall be lawful for The City 
of New York, and it is hereby authorized and 
empowered, to take peaceable possession of, 
or sue for and recover, and to hold, occupy, 
and enjoy all lots or pieces or parcels of 
land, situate, lying, and being in the city 
which have or which may be sold for a 
term of time for the payment of any taxes 
or assessments in the said city, after the^ ex- 
piration of the term for which the same 
may have been or shall be so sold, pro- 
vided the rightful owner of the same shall 
not then claim possession of^ the same, 
and to have, hold, and occupy the same 
until the rightful owner shall claim 
possession of the same, and shall pay 
all sums which may he due thereon 


Ill 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


for taxes, assessments, and also the value 
of the Improvements which may be made, 
or erected upon the same by The City of New 
York, over and above all the rents, issues 
and profits which may be received by The 
City of New York for or on acount of the 
rents, issues and profits of any such prem- 
ises; provided always, that The City of New 
York shall not be entitled to demand any 
sum of money for such improvements, unless 
it shall have caused to be published, in the 
City Record and the corporation newspapers 
for at least three months previous to the 
making of such improvements, a notifica- 
tion to the owners of the said lots, to appear 
and take possession of their said premises; 
and, further, that in no case shall the own- 
ers of said premises be compelled to pay ior 
any such improvements a sum exceeding two- 
thirds of the value of their said lots of land. 
The city shall account for and pay over to 
the rightful owner of any such lots of land all 
the rents, issues and profits which The City 
of New York may receive on account of such 
premises over and above the amount of all 
taxes and assessments due for or on account 
of the said premises, and over and above the 
value of all such improvements thereon as 
shall be made after the notification mentioned 
in this section and as shall not exceed two- 
thirds of the value of said lots of land. 

Mortgrnjtees to he notified of snle be- 
fore the time to redeem expires. 

Sec. 1,036. In cases of sales of real estate 
for the non-payment of taxes or assessments, 
it shall be the duty of the collector of as- 
sessments and arrears, sixty days before the 
time limited by law for the redemption of 
any real estate from the effects of such sales, 
to cause notice to be given to all mortgagees 
of the real estate so sold, their assignees or 
personal representatives, and to all owners, 
lessees, or persons otherwise interested, or 
their legal representatives, who shall at any 
time, at least one month before the time for 
the giving of such notice, have filed in the 
office of the comptroller a memorandum of 
such mortgage and of such real estate, con- 
taining a brief abstract, designating the 
property, with the street number, if there be 
any, or such definite description or diagram 
as will enable the said collector of assess- 
ments and arrears to designate the said prem- 
ises upon the city maps, and the name and 
residence of such mortgagee, assignee, or 
personal representative, and such owner, les- 
see, or person represented. 

How »nch notice shall he Riven. 

Sec. 1,037. Such notice shall be given by 
putting into the post office in The City of New 
York, directed to such mortgagees, assignees, 
or personal representatives, at their places 
of residence, if known to the collector of as- 
sessments and arrears, and such owners, 
lessees, or persons otherwise interested, a 
printed list describing all the property sold 
for taxes and remaining unredeemed. Such 
description shall name the street or avenue 
on which the property may be situate, the side 
of the street or avenue, and between what 
streets or avenues, with the map or street 
numbers of the property, and in whose name 
assessed, together with the term of years and 
amount for which the same shall have been 
sold, aDd the day or days on which the time 
limited for the redemption of the property 
will expire with a notice that unless the prop- 
erty shall be redeemed on or by such- days, 
by the payment of the sums for which the 
same were sold, with all interest and ex- 
penses allowed by law, that leases will be 
given to the purchasers, in accordance with 
the statute in such case made and provided. 


Affidavit of service. 

Sec. 1038., An affidavit of the service of such 
notice as is required in the two preceding 
sections, before any officer authorized to take 
affidavits to be read in a coui^t of record, and 
filed in the office of the said comptroller or 
a certified copy thereof under the signature 
of said comptroller shall be evidence of the 
fact of such notice. 

Comptroller to record memoranda. 

Sec. 1039. It shall be the duty of the comp- 
troller to keep in his office a book, alphabeti- 
cally arranged, for the registering.of all such 
memoranda as aforesaid, which book shall be 
open to the inspection of any person desiring 
to examine the same, without charge. The 
comptroller shall be entitled to receive 
twenty-five cents for registering the memo- 
randum of each mortgage, as above provided. 

Mortgagee’s right to redeem. 

Sec. 1040. Such mortgagees or their assignees 
or personal representatives, and such owners, 
lessees, or persons otherwise interested, or 
their legal representatives, shall be entitled 
to redeem the property sold from the effect 
of such sale, at any time within two years 
from the date of such sale, and such mort- 
gagees, assignees, or personal representatives 
shall have a lien on the property for the 
amount paid, with the interest which may 
thereafter accrue thereon, at the rate of seven 
per centum per annum, in like manner as if 
the same had been included in such mortgage. 

Notice of expiration of time to redeem 

to l»e published; lease to be executed 

to purchaser on default to redeem. 

Sec. 1041. The collector of assessments aud 
arrears, under direction of the comptroller 
of the city, shall cause an advertisement to 
be published at least twice in each week, for 
six weeks successively in the City Record 
and the corporation newspapers, in such form 
as he shall deem best calculated to give no- 
tice of such sale, that unless the lands and 
tenements sold be redeemed by a certain day, 
they will be conveyed to the purchaser. If 
the person or persons claiming title to the 
said lands and tenements, or some other per- 
sons, shall not, within two years from the 
date of the before mentioned certificate pay to 
the said collector, for the use of the purchaser 
or purchasers, his, her, or their heirs, ex- 
ecutors, administrators, or assigns, the sum 
mentioned in such certificate, together with 
the interest thereon, at the rate of fourteen-' 
per centum per annum from the date of such 
certificate, the said comptroller, in the name 
of The City of New York, at the expiration 
of the said two years, shall execute to tae 
purchaser or purchasers, his, her, or their ; 
heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns, a ! 
lease, under the common seal of the city, 
of the lands and tenements so sold for 
such term of years as the same shall have 
been sold, and the execution thereof shall 
be witnessed by the said collector. At the 
time of receiving the lease the purchaser 
shall pay the sum of two dollars and fifty 
cents to the said collector for the expense 
of drawing said lease, and also the ex- 
pense of advertising the notice to redeem; 
and all such leases executed by the said 
comptroller and witnessed by the said col- 
lector shall be presumptive evidence that 
the sale and all proceedings prior thereto, 
from and including the assessments on said 
lands and tenements, for taxes or assess- 
ments or water rents, and all notices re- 
quired by law to be given previous to the 
expiration of the two years allowed to re- 


deem, were regular and according to the 
provision of the statute in such cases made 
and provided: and such purchaser or pur- 
chasers, his, her, or their heirs, executors, 
administrators, or assigns, shall, in virtue 
thereof and of this title, lawfully hold and 
enjoy the said lands and tenements in said 
lease mentioned for his, her, or their owr. 
proper use against the owner or owners 
thereof, and all claiming under him. her, or 
them, until such purchaser's term therein 
shall be fully complete and ended; and the 
said purchaser or purchasers, hie. her, or 
their heirs, executors, administrators or as- 
signs, shall be at liberty to remove all the 
buildings or materials which he, she, or 
they shall erect or place thereon during 
the said term, within one month after the 
expiration of the said term, but leaving the 
lands and tenements, with the streets front- 
ing the same, in the order required by the 
ordinances of the boarck of aldermen; pro- 
vided that such lease shall not be executed 
and delivered until the expiration of six 
mouths after the publication of the notice 
last herein above mentioned. 

Redeeming; a portion of lands (told. 

Sec. 1042. In all cases where pieces or 
parcels of land shall have been sold for 
taxes, assessments or water rents, and any 
person shall claim to redeem any portion 
of the same within the time limited for 
redemption, he shall be permitted to do so 
on paying the apportionment of the tax, 
assessment or water rents for which the 
property was sold, together with the inter- 
est on the same, and an equitable propor- 
tion of the expense, the apportionment to be 
made by the comptroller. 

Sale of lands netunlly occupied; notice 

to be served. 

See. 1043. Whenever any land6 or tene- 
ments sold for taxes, assessments, or water 
rents, and conveyed, as in this title pro- 
vided, shall, at the time of conveyance, 
be in the actual occupancy of any person, 
the grantee to whom the same shall have 
been conveyed, or the person claiming 
under him, eball serve a written notice on 
the person occupying such lands or tene- 
ments, and in all cases on the person owning 
the property so conveyed, whether the prop- 
erty be in occupancy or not, provided such 
owner resides in The City of New York, or 
in any adjoining county; in case the owner 
does not reside in The City of New York, or 
in an adjoining county, said notice shall be 
sent to his or her post office address by mail. 
All such notices shall state in substance the 
sale and conveyance, the person to whom 
| made, and the amount of consideration money 
| mentioned in the conveyance, with the addi- 
tion of forty-two per centum on such amount 
as the said lands or tenements were struck 
off for at the time of sale, and the further 
addition of the sum paid for the lease and 
advertisement; and stating, also, that unless 
such consideration money, and the said forty- 
two per centum, together with the sum paid 
for the lease and advertisements, shall be 
paid to said collector of assessments and ar- 
rears, for the benefit of the grantees, within 
six months after the service of such notice, 
the said conveyance will become absolute, 
and the owner, occupant, and all others in- 
terested in the lands or tenements be barred 
from all right and title thereto during the 
term of years for which such lands or tene- 
ments shall have been conveyed. And no 
conveyance made in pursuance of this title 
shall be recorded until the expiration of such 


112 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


notice, and the evidence of the service of 
■uch notice shall be recorded with such con- 
veyance. 

Id.j mode of service. 

Sec. 1044. Such notice shall be served per- 
sonally or by leaving the same at the dwell- 
ing house of the occupant and of the pew- 
son owning the property conveyed, with any 
person of suitable age and discretion belong- 
ing to his or her family, and the name of the 
person on whom served shall be stated in the 
affidavit of service hereinafter mentioned if 
the same can be ascertained, and if served 
by mail, shall state the time when the same 
was mailed. 

Id.j affidavit thereof. 

Sec. 1045. In every such case the grantee, 
or the person claiming under him, in order 
to complete his title to the land conveyed, 
shall file with the said collector of assess- 
ments and arrears an affidavit of some per- 
son residing in The City of New York, who 
shall be certified as eredible by the officer 
before whom such affidavit shall be taken, 
that such notice was duly served, specifying 
the time of service, the mode and manner 
of service and a copy of such notiee shall be 
attached thereto. 

Certificate of the Comptroller! effect 

thereof. 

Sec. 1046. If the said comptroller shall be 
satisfied by such affidavit that the notice has 
been duly served, and if the moneys required 
to be paid for the redemption of such lands 
or tenements shall not have been paid as 
hereinbefore provided, he shall, under his 
hand and seal, certify to the fact, and the 
conveyance shall thereupon become ab- 
solute, and the owner and all others inter- 
ested in the lands or tenements shall be 
barred of all right thereto during the term 
of years for which the same shall have been 
conveyed. 

Owner or occupant) when may redeem. 

Sec. 1047. The owner, occupant, or any 
other person may, at any time within the 
six months named in such notice, redeem 
the said lands and tenements by paying such 
purchase money, with tne addition of forty- 
two per centum the'reon, and the amount 
that shall have been paid for the lease, and 
every such redemption shall be as effectual 
as if made before the conveyance of the lands 
or tenements sold. 

Rate of interest! how to he calculated. 

Sec. 1048. The rate of interest allowed by 
law to the purchaser at the time of redemp- 
tion on the amount of the purchase money 
shall be reduced to fourteen per centum, per 
annum; but no interest shall be calculated 
on a less portion of time than one-quarter 
of a year, and in all cases where the prop- 
erty shall be redeemed during any fractional 
part of a year, the interest shall be cal- 
culated so as to include the quarter in which 
such redemption shall be made, the time to 
be computed from the day of sale. 

Certificate of redemption to be fur- 
nished. 

Sec. 1049. Upon such redemption, as pro- 
vided for in the two preceding sections, the 
said collector of assessments and arrears 
shall give to the person redeeming, a certifi- 
cate under his hand and seal, stating the 
payment, the year in- which the sale was 
mado, and showing what lapd such payment 
Is Intended to redeem, and such certificate 
•ball he evidence of such redemption.. 


Lost certificate; delivery of lease in 

case of. 

Sec. 1050. Whenever any certificate given 
by the collector of assessments and arrears, 
as in this title provided, of lands sold shall 
be lost, the said comptroller may receive 
evidence of such loss, and on satisfactory 
proof of the fact may execute and deliver 
a lease to such person or persons who shall 
appear entitled thereto of the lands and tene- 
ments described in the certificate, and may 
also, in his discretion, require a bond of 
indemnity to The City of New York. Bach 
certificate shall be registered in the record 
of sales to be kept in the bureau of said col- 
lector of assessments and arrears, and no 
transfer of siich certificate shall be valid 
until registered in said book. 

Bills of arrears of taxes nn<l assess- 
ments to be furnished when re- 
quested. 

Sec. 1051. The collector of assessments 
and arrears, upon the requisition of any per- 
son, shall furnish a bill of all arrears of 
taxes, and of taxes with the “water rents” 
added on any lot or lots due prior to the 
first of June, then last past, and of assess- 
ments which are due and payable, including 
the amount necessary to redeem it or 
them, if it or they have been sold 
for any arrears of assessments, taxes 
or water rents and be yet redeemable; and 
upon the payment of the said bill (which 
shall be called a “bill of arrears of assess- 
ments, taxes and water rents and for re- 
demption”), his receipt thepeon, counter- 
signed by the comptroller, shall be conclusive 
evidence of such payment. The comptroller 
shall cause to be kept a duplicate account of 
amounts so collected, and the certificate of 
the collector of assessments and arrears, 
countersigned by the comptroller, that there 
are no such liens on said lot or lots, shall 
forever free the said lot or lots from all 
liens of taxes, or for taxes with water rates 
added, or for rents of water added to the 
taxes prior to the first of June then last 
passed, and for all assessments due and pay- 
able prior to the date of the said receipt 
or certificate, and from all liens in conse- 
quence of sales for assessments, taxes, or 
water rents, or for all of them, when the 
time allowed by law for redemption had not 
expired at the date or time of said payment 
or certificate 

Id. I fees for searches. 

Sec. 1,052. Fees for the searches to be paid 
into the city treasury shall be included in 
the bills mentioned in the preceding section, 
and also charges for certificates, which shall 
be given by said collector of assessment* 
and arrears, respecting lots on which there 
may be no arrears when searches are re- 
quired; the said fees to be regulated by or- 
dinance of the board of aldermen. 

Complete record of sales to be kept. 

Sec. 1,053. There shall be kept in the 
office of the collector of assessments and 
arrears a record of all sales made for taxes, 
assessments and water rents, which record 
shall show the amount of the tax, the as- 
sessment and the water rents, a description 
of the premises sold, the date of the sale, 
the name of the person to whom sold, the 
term of years for which such property was 
sold, time of the delivery of the lease, to 
whom delivered, and when the same shall 
expire. 

Affidavits of publication of necessary 

notices to be preserved. 

Sec. 1,054. It shall be the duty of the col- 
lector of assessments and arrears to pro- 


cure, preserve and register in his office, affi- 
davits of the publication of all the notices 
by this title required to be published, and 
such affidavits shall be presumptive proof of 
such publication in all the courts of this 
state. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. 

Title 1. The public schools and their man- 
agement. 

Title 2. The college of The City of New 
York. 

Title 3. The normal college. 

Title 4. General provisions. 

TITLE 1. 

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THEIR 
MANAGEMENT. 

Board of education! properly under its 
care and control; in what name suits 
brought. 

Sec. 1055. The title to all property, real 
and personal, now or that may hereafter be 
acquired for school or educational purposes, 
except the State Normal Sehool at Jamaica, 
and also the title to all property, real and 
personal, purchased for school or educational 
purposes with any school moneys, whether 
derived from the issue of bonds or raised by 
taxation in The City of New York, shall be 
rested in The City of New York, as consti- 
tuted by this act, but shall be under the care 
and control of the board of education, as pro- 
vided in this act. for the purposes of public 
education, recreation and other public uses. 
Suits in relation to such property shall be 
brought in the name of the said board of 
education. The said city of New York shall 
have power to take and hold any property, 
real or personal, devised or bequeathed or 
transmitted to it for the purposes of educa- 
tion in said city; but such property shall be 
under the care and control of the board of 
education, as provided by this act, for the 
purpos.es of public education; recreation and 
other public uses in said city. 

School age of children. 

Sec. 1056. The schools of the said city 
under the management and control of the 
board of education shall be free to all per- 
sons over four and under twenty-one years 
of age residing in said city, but under such 
regulations not in conflict with the general 
school law of the state, as the board eff edu- 
cation shall prescribe, provided, however, 
that no child under six years of age shall be 
received in said schools except In kinder- 
garten classes. 

Board of education; sneceeds to trusts 
of public school society. 

Sec. 1057. All the trusts held by or vested 
in the public school society of The City of 
New York, as heretofore organized and ex- 
isting in compliance with the provisions of 
an act entitled, “An act relative to common 
schools in the city of New York,” passed the 
fourth day of June, one thousand eight hun- 
dred and fifty-three, which have not been 
conveyed by the said society, and all the 
rights, powers and duties of said society, 
which yet remained therein, shall continue 
and be vested in the board of education of 
The City of New York, which board is, and 
shall be held to be the lawful successors of 
said society in the execution of every trust. 

Board of education succeeds to duties 
and power* of former boards, etc. 

Sec. 105S. Subject to the provisions of this 
act, and so far as is consistent therewith, 
the board of education of The City of New 
York, as created by the terms and provisions 
of this act, shall be subject to all duties, pos- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


113 


*ess all the rights and exercise all the pow- 
ers respectively held by the board of educa- 
tion, the school boards of the several bor- 
oughs and the inspectors of common schools 
on the day when this act takes 
effect, excepting such duties, rights 
and powers as shall devolve upon the 
local school boards as provided in this act. 
The powers, duties and functions of all the 
school boards in the several boroughs within 
The City of New York, as they have here- 
tofore been constituted, shall cease and de- 
termine, and their offices shall be abolished, 
on the first Monday of February, nineteen 
hundred and two, and the board of education, 
as constituted by this act, shall thereupon 
succeed to such powers, and become subject 
to such functions and duties as provided by 
this act. 

Money to condnct schools to he raised 
by taxation. 

Sec. 1059. The board of estimate and ap- 
portionment and the board of aldermen of 
The City Of New York may raise and collect 
by tax, on the estates, real and personal, 
liable to taxation in said city, such sum of 
money as may be necessary to provide for 
the conduct of the schools as called for by 
the budget adopted by the said board of es- 
timate and apportionment and the said board 
of aldermen pursuant to the provisions of 
this act. 

Special and general school fnnds; all 
moneys to he administered by hoard 
of education. 

Sec. 1060. All moneys raised for educational 
purposes in Tne City of New York shall be 
raised in two funds, to be known as the 
special school fund and the general school 
fund, respectively. The general school fund 
shall consist of all moneys raised for the 
payment of salaries of the city superinten- 
dent, associate city superintendents and dis- 
trict superintendents, members of the board 
of examiners, attendance officers, lecturers 
and all members of the supervising and teach- 
ing staff, throughout all boroughs, in con- 
formity with section ten hundred and ninety- 
one of this act. The special school fund 
shall contain and embrace all moneys raised 
for educational purposes not comprised in 
the general school fund. It shall be the 
duty of the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment and of the board of aldermen 
to indicate in the budget in raising 
the special school fund the respective 
amounts thereof which shall be avail- 
able for use in the several boroughs. The 
general school fund shall be raised in bulk, 
and for the city at large. The board of edu- 
cation shall have power to administer and 
shall administer all moneys appropriated or 
available for educational purposes in The 
City of New York. 

Board of cdncation; how constituted i 
presidents vacancies! members to 
serve without pay. 

Sec. 1061. There shall be in The City of 
New York as constituted by this act, a board 
of education, which shall have the manage- 
ment and control of the public schools and 
of the public school system of the city, sub- 
ject only to the general statutes of the state 
relating to public schools and public school 
instruction, and to the provisions of this act. 
The board of education of The City of New 
York shall consist of forty-six members, 
twenty-two being residents of the borough 
of Manhattan; four of the borough of The 
Bronx; fourteen of the borough of Brook- 
lyn; four of the borough of Queens, and two 
of the borough of Richmond. The members 
of the board of education shall be appointed 
by the mayor and hold office for the term of 


five years. On the first Monday of February, 
in the year nineteen hundred and two, and 
in every year thereafter, the said board of 
education shall organize by electing one of 
its members as president of the board, who 
shall preside at its meetings, and shall have 
the same power to vote thereat as any other 
member, but who shall not have the power 
of veto. Any vacancy in the office of mem- 
bers of the board of education, caused by 
death, resignation, or otherwise, shall be 
filled by appointment by the mayor for the 
unexpired term, subject to the provisions as 
to the residence of such members herein- 
before set forth. On the third Monday of 
January, nineteen hundred and two, the 
mayor shall appoint members of the board of 
education to serve until the dates herein- 
after specified, namely: In the borough of 
Manhattan, five members until January first, 
nineteen hundred and three; five members 
until January first, nineteen hundred and 
four; four members until January first, nine- 
teen hundred and five; four members until 
January first, nineteen hundred and six; and 
four members until January first, nineteen 
hundred and seven. In the borough of 6rook- 
lyn, three members until January first, nine- 
teen hundred and three; three members until 
January first nineteen hundred and four; 
three members until January first, nineteen 
hundred and five; three members until Janu- 
ary first, nineteen hundred and six; and two 
members until January first, nineteen hun- 
dred and seven. In the borough of The 
Bronx, one member until January first, nine- 
teen hundred and three; one member until 
January first, nineteen hundred and five; 
one member until January first, nineteen 
hundred and six; and one member until 
January first, nineteen hundred and seven. 
In the borough of Queens, one member until 
January first, nineteen hundred and three; 
one member until January first, nineteen 
hundred and five; one member until January 
first, nineteen hundred and six; and one 
member until January first, nineteen hundred 
and seven. In the borough of Richmond, 
one member until January first, nineteen 
hundred and four; and one member unti 1 
January first, nineteen hundred and seven. 
In the month of November prior to the ex- 
piration of the respective terms of office of 
the members of the board of education, ap- 
pointed as aforesaid, the mayor shall ap- 
point their successors to serve for the full 
term of five years from the first day of Janu- 
ary following. The terms for which such 
appointments are made shall be designated in 
the certificates of appointment of such mem- 
bers. A change of residence by a member 
of the board of education from the borough 
from which he was appointed shall vacate 
his office. Members of the board of educa- 
tion shall serve without pay, and shall hold 
no office of emolument under the county, 
state or municipal government, except the 
offices of notary public or commissioner of 
deeds, or offices in the national guard. 

Id.} to possess powers and privileges 

of a corporation. 

Sec. 1062. For the purposes ef this chapter, 
the board of education of The City of New 
York shall possess the powers and privileges 
of a corporation. 

Id.; to appoint an executive committee; 

powers of committee. 

Sec. 1,063. It shall be the duty of the board 
of education in the month of February, nine- 
teen hundred and two and in each year there- 
after in the month of July to appoint a stand- 
ing committee of fifteen members of the 
board, who shall, subject to the approval of 
the board, constitute an executive com- 


mittee for the care, government and man- 
agement of the public school system of the 
city, subject to the by-laws of the .board of 
education. At least one member of such 
committee shall be selected from each bor- 
ough. The said board of education may by 
its by-laws confer upon said committee 
power to perform any of the admin- 
istrative powers of the board. It 
shall be the duty of said executive commit- 
tee to perform such duties as the board of 
education may by by-law prescribe. The 
board of education may, at any regular meet- 
ing thereof, by a majority of all the mem- 
bers of the beard, remove any or all the 
members of the said committee, and appoint 
other members of the board to the vacancies 
thus created. Said executive committee shall 
meet at least once in each month. All re- 
ports of committees of the board appointed 
under its by-daws shall be presented to the 
executive committee for its consideration and 
action before being presented to the board, 
unless otherwise ordered by the board. The 
president of the board shall be ex officio 
the chairman of the executive committee. 

Id.; to be representative of school sys- 
tem: to submit estimate for entire 

school system. 

Sec. 1064. The board of education shall rep- 
resent the schools and the school system of 
The City of New York before the board of 
estimate and apportionment, and before the 
board of aldermen, in all matters of appro- 
priations in the budget of the city for edu- 
cational purposes, and in all other matters, 
and shall in general, be the representative 
of the school system of the city in its en- 
tirety. On or before the fifteenth of Septem- 
ber in each year it shall submit an estimate 
in detail of the moneys needed for the entire 
school system of the city, during the next 
succeeding calendar year, to the board of 
estimate and apportionment for Its action. 
The board of estimate and apportionment 
shall appropriate for the general school fund 
for the year nineteen hundred and two and, 
annually, for each year thereafter, an amount 
equivalent to not less than three mills on 
every dollar of assessed valuation of the 
real and personal estate in The City of New 
York, liable to taxation. In case the amount 
so appropriated for the general school fund 
exceeds the expenditures and ascertained 
liabilities chargeable to such fund during 
any one year, the amount by which the said 
general school fund exceeds said expenditures 
and liabilities shall become part of the gen- 
eral school fund for the next succeeding 
year, and the amount to be raised by tax 
for said fund shall be diminished by the 
amount of said excess. The board of edu- 
cation shall administer all moneys appro- 
priated or available for educational purposes 
in The City of New York, subject to the 
general provisions of this act relating to 
the audit and payment of salaries and other 
claims by the department of finance. — As 
amended by Laws of 1903, Chapter 43. 

Id.; to use and control certain prem- 
ises. 

Sec. 1065. The board of education shall have 
power to use and to control the premises 
known as the hall of the board x of educa- 
tion, at the corner of Park avenue and Fifty- 
ninth street in the borougn of Manhattan, 
and any other buildings to be occupied for 
like purposes in The City of New York, and 
to make all the repairs, alterations and ad- 
ditions in and to the said building or build- 
ings which the board of education may au- 
thorize and deem advisable. It shall pro- 
vide such offices and rooms as it may deem 
advisable within the boroughs of The City. 


114 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


of New York, for the administration of the 
powers and duties conferred by this chap- 
ter upon the board of education, the board 
of superintendents, and the city superintend- 
ent. 

Id.; to dispose of personal property; 

disposition of proceeds; to lease 

property nnd make contracts. 

Sec. 1066. The board of education shall 
have power, in the name of The City of New 
York and for said city, to dispose of such 
personal property used in the schools or 
other buildings under the charge of said 
board as shall no longer be required for use 
therein, and all moneys realized by the sale 
thereof shall be paid into the city treasury 
and shall at once be appropriated by the 
board of estimate and apportionment, to the 
special school fund of the board of education 
for use in the borough in which the prop- 
erty sold was situated. Said board shall 
have power to lease property required for 
the purpose of furnishing school accommoda- 
tions, and to prepare and execute leases 
therefor. 

Board of edncation; to appoint certain 

officers, clerks, etc., and fix their sal- 
aries. 

Sec. 1067. The said board of education shall 
have power to appoint a secretary of the 
board; a superintendent of school buildings, 
who shall be an architect of experience and 
good standing, and whose term of office 
shall be for six years; a superintendent of 
school supplies whose term of office shall 
be for six years; a city superintendent 
of schools for the term of six years; 
a supervisor of lectures for the term of. six 
years; and one or more auditors. The said 
board may appoint a chief clerk and such 
other officers, clerks, or subordinates as it 
may deem necessary for its administrative 
duties, and as are provided for by the proper 
appropriation. The city superintendent of 
■chools, any associate city superintendent, 
any district superintendent, the supervisor of 
lectures, any member of the board of ex- 
aminers, the secretary of the board of educa- 
tion, the superintendent of school buildings, 
the superintendent of school supplies, the au- 
ditor or auditors, and any other officers, 
clerks or subordinates of the board, may, any 
or either of them, be removed for cause at 
any time by a vote of three-fourths of all 
the members of the board of education, and 
may be suspended by the board of education 
pending the trial of charges. The said board 
shall fix and regulate within the proper ap- 
propriation the salaries or compensation of 
the city superintendent of schools, of the 
associate city superintendents and the dis- 
trict superintendents, and of members of the 
board of examiners. 

Id.; power to enact by-laws, rules and 

regulations. 

Sec. 1068. The board of education shall have 
power, subject to the provisions of law and 
of this act, to enact by-laws, rules and regu- 
lations for the proper execution of all duties 
devolved upon the board, its members and 
committees and upon the several local school 
boards; for the transaction of all business 
pertaining to the same; for defining the du- 
ties of the city superintendent of schools, the 
superintendent of school buildings, the super- 
intendent of school supplies, of its auditor or 
auditors, its clerks and subordinates; for reg- 
ulating the manner of making disbursements 
from any of the funds apportioned to any 
borough for school purposes, for the proper 
execution of all powers vested in it by law, 
and for the promotion of the welfare and best 
Interests of the public schools and public. 


school system of the city in the matters com- 
mitted to its care. Until the board of edu- 
cation shall act under the provisions of this 
section the by-laws, rules and regulations of 
the board of education and of the several 
borough school boards in force on the first 
day of January, nineteen hundred and two, 
shall remain in full force and effect so far 
as they are not inconsistent with the pro- 
visions of this act and are applicable. 

Board of education succeeds to specific 
powers heretofore exercised by bor- 
ough boards. 

Sec. 1069, The board of education shall, in 
addition to the other powers herein ex- 
pressly conferred, have power: 

1. To establish and conduct elementary 
schools, kindergartens, manual training 
schools, trade schools, truant schools, even- 
ing schools and vacation schools. 

2. To maintain free lectures and courses of 

instruction for the people of The City of New 
York. , 

3. To provide special classes, whose ses- 
sions shall be held at such times in the day 
or evening as said board may determine, for 
the purpose of giving instruction in the En- 
glish language to persons who cannot use 
that language readily, and whose vocations 
are such as to prevent their attending the 
elementary or other schools in the school 
system. 

4. To provide one or more high schools 
and training schools or classes for teachers, 
as it may from time to time determine, and 
as the appropriations may permit. The said 
training schools or classes shall be under the 
control of the board of education and of the 
city superintendent of schools to the extent 
that may be necessary to secure compliance 
with chapter one thousand and thirty-one of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-five. 

5 . To establish and conduct play grounds in 
connection with the public schools. 

6. To establish new schools and discontinue 
or consolidate any of the schools of the 
system. 

Id.; secretary; duties; secretary and 
chief clerk may administer oaths. 

Sec. 1070. The secretary of the board of 
education shall have charge of the rooms, 
books, papers and documents of the board, 
and shall, in addition to his duties as sec- 
retary of the board, perform such other du- 
ties as may be required by its members or 
committees. The secretary and the chief 
clerk of said board are authorized to ad- 
minister oaths and take affidavits in all mat- 
ters appertaining to the schools in The City 
of New York, and for that purpose shall 
possess all the powers of a commissioner of 
deeds, but shall not be entitled to any of the 
fees or emoluments thereof. 

Id.; provide for brniiclies, etc., in bor- 
ough. 

Sec. 1071. The, board of education 6hall 
make provision for the organization in the 
various boroughs of such branches as they 
may deem necessary in the bureaus of the 
superintendents of school buildings and of 
school supplies, and 6hall make such pro- 
vision by its by-laws as will secure prompt 
and efficient service for the selection and 
acquisition of sites, the planning and erec- 
tion of new buildings for school purposes, 
and for the alteration and repair of existing 
buildings, and for the regulation of the pur- 
chase and distribution of school books and 
supplies, and for the execution and car- 
rying into effect of all matters and 
things, authority for which shall have 


been granted by the board, and for 
the preservation of all school records. 
Subject to such by-laws, the superintend- 
ent of school buildings shall be the executive 
officer of the board in respect to all matters 
relating to the bureau of buildings, or in re- 
spect to which he is charged with duties un- 
der the provisions of this act. He shall ad- 
vertise for bids for the erection, alteration or 
repair of any building to be used for educa- 
tional purposes in The City of New York 
which has been authorized by the board of 
education. 

Superintendent of school buildings; 
oath and security by; subject to reg- 
ulations of hoard; vacancy in office. 

Sec. 1072. The superintendent of school 
buildings shall take and subscribe before the 
secretary or the chief clerk of the board of 
education, the oath prescribed by the con- 
stitution of this state, and give such security 
for the faithful performance of the duties of 
his office as the board of education may di- 
rect; and the bureau under his charge shall 
be subject to such rules and regulations as 
the board may establish, one of which shall 
prohibit the performance by him of any 
work, on any other account, similar to that 
performed under the regulations so estab- 
lished, except for the normal college of The 
City of New York, and like institutions in the 
department of education. Any vacancy in the 
said office of superintendent of school build- 
ings shall be filled by appointment for the 
unexpired term. 

Id.; deputy in each borough; plans for 
school buildings. 

See. 1073. The superintendent of school 
buildings may appoint a deputy superintend- 
ent for each of the boroughs, who shall be an 
architect or engineer of good standing, and, 
with the authority of the hoard of education, 
he may empower a deputy superintendent in 
his place and stead to execute all the duties 
of superintendent and such other duties as 
the board of education may, by regulation, 
prescribe. All plans for new school build- 
ings, for additions to school buildings, and 
for structural changes in old buildings, shall 
be passed upon, and must be approved by the 
superintendent of school buildings, who shall 
submit such plans to the board of education, 
whose action thereon shall be final. 

Id.; appointment of janitors. 

Sec. 1074. Janitors shall be appointed by 
the board of education. 

Board of education; purchase of, and 
regulations regarding supplies. 

Sec. 1075. The board of education shall 
provide for the purchase of all books, ap- 
paratus, stationery and other things neces- 
sary and expedient to enable the schools of 
the city to be properly and successfully con- 
ducted. It shall cause to be furnished all 
necessary supplies, and shall make regula- 
tions for the furnishing thereof to the schools 
In the several boroughs. The board of edu- 
cation shall have power to enact by-laws and 
resolutions for the government of the super- 
intendent of supplies, which by-laws and res- 
olutions shall provide that all supplies, as far 
as possible, shall be obtained by contract, 
made at public letting in the manner pro- 
vided by section four hundred and nineteen 
of this act. 

Superintendent of supplies; oath and 
security by; subject to regulations of 
board; vacancy; deputy superintend- 
ent nnd subordinates; depots of sup- 
plies. 

Sec. 1076. The superintendent of school 
supplies shall take and subscribe before the 
secretary or the clerk of the board of educa- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


115 


tion the oath prescribed by the constitution 
of this state, and shall give such security 
for the faithful performance of the duties of 
his office as the board of education may di- 
rect; and the bureau under his charge shall 
be subject to such rules and regulations as 
the board may establish. Any vacancy in the 
said office of superintendent of school sup- 
plies shall be filed by appointment for the un- 
expired term. The superintendent of school 
supplies may appoint such deputy superin- 
tendents and such other subordinates as the 
by-laws of the board of education may author- 
ize, and he may, with the authority of said 
board, empower a deputy superintendent in 
his place and stead to execute all the duties 
of the superintendent, and such other duties 
as the board of education may by regulation 
prescribe. He shall establish such depots of 
supplies in any of the boroughs as may be 
authorized by the board of education. The 
superintendent of school supplies shall be the 
executive officer of the board in respect of 
the purchase, storing and distribution of all 
supplies for the use of the schools, the board 
of education, the officers and employes there- 
of, the several local school boards and the 
office of the city superintendent; the print- 
ing for the board and any of its officers, em- 
ployes or departments, and the local jschool 
boards; transportation of school children; 
and such other matters as may be assigned 
to him as such executive officer by the by- 
laws of the board. He shall advertise for 
bids for supplies and equipments, for the use 
of the schools, the board of education or 
any of the bureaus thereof and the several 
local school boards, which have been author- 
ized by the board of education, and when such 
advertisement is required by law or the by- 
laws of the board. 

City superintendent of schools; rights 

and dnties. 

Sec. 1077. The city superintendent of schools 


shall 

have 

the 

right 

of 

visitation and 

in- 

quiry 

in 

all 

of the 

schools of 

The 

City 

of 

New 

York 

as 

constituted 

un- 

der 

this 

act. 

and 

he 

shall report 

to 


the board of education on the educational 
system of the city, and upon the condition 
of any and all of the schools thereof. He 
shall have a seat in the board of education, 
and the right to speak on all matters before 
the board, but not to vote. 

Id.; further duties; annua! report; 

clerics of main office. 

Sec. 1078. The city superintendent of 
schools, so often as he can consistently with 
his other duties, shall visit the schools of 
the city as he shall see fit, and inquire into 
all matters relating to the government, 
courses of instruction, methods of teaching, 
management and discipline of such schools, 
and the condition of the school houses and of 
the schools generally; and shall advise and 
encourage the pupils and teachers and offi- 
cers thereof; subject to the by-laws of the 
board of education, he shall prescribe suita- 
ble registers, blanks, forms and regulations 
for the making of all reports, and for con- 
ducting all necessary business connected 
with the school system and he shall cause 
the same, with such information and instruc- 
tions as he shall deem conducive to the prop- 
er organization and government of the 
schools, and the due execution of their duties 
by school officers, to be transmitted to the 
officers or persons entrusted with the execu- 
tion of the same. He shall submit to the 
board of education an annual report con- 
taining a statement of the condition of the 
schools of the city, and all such matters re- 
lating to his office, and such plans and sug- 
gestions for the improvement of the schools 


and the school system, and for the advance- 
ment of public Instruction in the City of New 
York as he shall deem expedient, and as the 
by-laws of the board of education may direct. 
He shall enforce the compulsory education 
law, and shall nominate attendance officers 
to the board of education and shall direct 
such officers in their duties. He may ap- 
point such clerks as he may deem necessary, 
and as are authorized by the board of educa- 
tion. He shall assign his clerks to their va- 
rious duties, and may suspend or discharge 
them for cause, but in such case, the clerks 
shall have a right of appeal to the board of 
education. 'He shall report as often as the 
board of education shall direct upon any 
matter or matters, entrusted to his charge, 
in such detail as shall be required of him. 
He shall maintain his main office in the 
borough of Manhattan, and in such building 
as the board of education shall direct. He 
shall have power, at any time, to call to- 
gether any or all of the associate city super- 
intendents and district superintendents for 
consultation, and shall assign to them, sub- 
ject to the by-laws of the board of education, 
such duties as in his judgment will be con- 
ducive to the welfare of the public schools of 
the City of New York. Twqnty-three of the 
district superintendents shall be assigned by 
the city superintendent to the work of super- 
vision in the local school board districts, to 
be constituted as hereinafter provided, in 
such manner that one district superinten- 
dent shall be assigned to such duty in two of 
such districts for the period of one school 
year. At the end of such period the city su- 
perintendent shall have power to' change such 
assignments as he may deem best for the In- 
terests of the school system, but only in the 
manner above provided. District superin- 
tendents when not so assigned to such duty in 
said districts shall be assigned by the city 
superintendent to such other professional 
duties as the welfare of the school system 
may require. It shall further be the duty of 
the city superintendent to report any case of 
gross misconduct, insubordination, neglect of 
duty, or general inefficiency on the part of 
any associate city superintendent or district 
superintendent to the board of education. 
The city superintendent may empower an as- 
sociate city superintendent to execute all the 
duties of the city superintendent during his 
absence or disability. 

Cttv superintendent, associate city su- 
perintendents, board of superintend- 
ents, district superintendents and 
directors. 

Sec. 1079. There shall be eight associate 
city superintendents, who, with the city su- 
perintendent, shall constitute the board of 
superintendents. They shall be appointed 
by the board of education by a vote 
of a majority of its members, and 
shall serve for the term of six years, 
provided, however, that the borough super- 
intendents in office on the first day of 
January, nineteen hundred and two, shall 
serve out as associate city superintendents 
the terms for which they were appointed by 
the respective borough school boards hereto- 
fore existing, and upon the expiration of 
their respective terms of office their suc- 
cessors shall be appointed in the manner and 
for the term herein provided and provided 
also that the other four associate city super- 
intendents shall be appointed from the asso- 
ciate borough superintendents in office on the 
first day of January, nineteen hundred and 
two, and when so appointed they shall serve 
out as associate city superintendents the 
terms for which they were respectively ap- 
pointed as such associate borough superin- 


tendents. The city superintendent shall pre- 
side over the board of superintendents, and 
all communications from the board shall be 
made in his name unless in any special case 
he may otherwise elect. The board of educa- 
tion shall have pow'er to pass by-laws regu- 
lating the duties of the city superintendent 
and of the board of superintendents. There 
shall be twenty-six district superintendents 
to be appointed by the board of education for 
the term of six years upon the nomination of 
the board of superintendents, provided, how- 
ever, that the associate borough superintend- 
ents in office on the first day of January, 
nineteen hundred and two, shall serve out as 
associate city superintendents or as district 
superintendents the terms for which they were 
appointed as such associate borough sup 
erintendents by the respective borough school 
boards heretofore existing; and upon the ex- 
piration of their respective terms of office 
their successors shall be appointed in the 
manner and for the term above provided. The 
offices of borough superintendent of schools 
and associate borough superintendent o. 
schools shall be abolished on the first Mon- 
day of February, nineteen hundred and two. 
Except as herein otherwise provided, no per- 
son shall be eligible for election as city su- 
perintendent, associate, city superintendent, 
or district superintendent who has not one of 
the following qualifications: (a) Graduation 
from a college or university recognized by 
the University of the State of New York, to- 
gether with at least five years of successful 
experience in teaching or supervision since 
graduation; (b) A principal’s certificate for 
any of the boroughs of The City of New 1 orlc. 
obtained as a result of examination, together 
with ten years’ successful experience in su- 
pervision or teaching. Resignations of the 
city superintendent and the associate city 
superintendents shall be made to the board 
of education. Resignations of the district 
superintendents and directors of special 
branches shall be made to the board of su- 
perintendents and shall be reported immedi- 
ately to the board of education. The board 
of education shall have power, upon the nom- 
ination of the board of superintendents, to 
appoint such directors of special branches 
as it deems necessary, for the term of six 
years; such directors shall be subject to the 
supervision and direction of the city super- 
intendent. No person shall be eligible for 
election as director of a special branch, such 
as music, drawing, kindergarten, etc., who is 
not: (a) A graduate of a college or univer- 
sity recognized by the University of the State 
of New York; and (b) a graduate from a 
course of professional training of at least 
two years in the special branch that he is 
to supervise or teach; and (c) a teacher of 
that special branch with at least three years 
of successful experience. Nothing in this 
act contained shall prevent the re-election of 
any superintendent in office at the time of 
the passage of this act. 

General dnties of district superintend- 
ents. , 

Sec. 1080. Under the supervision and direc- 
tion of the city superintendents, district su- 
perintendents shall visit every school in the 
district to which they are assigned; shall in- 
quire into all matters relating to the govern- 
ment, courses of study, methods of teaching, 
discipline and conduct of such schools, and 
the condition of the school houses and of the 
schools generally; shall examine classes when 
necessary; and shall advise, assist and en- 
courage the pupils and teachers thereof. The 
district superintendents shall report the re- 
sults of such inspections and examlnationi- 


116 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


to the city superintendent, who shall trans- 
mit such parts of said reports as he may 
consider necessary or proper to the board of 
education and to the local school boards for 
the districts for which the same are made 
respectively. Such reports shall be made at 
such times, concerning such matters, and in 
such form as said city superintendent shall 
require. It shall further be the duty of each 
district superintendent to report to the local 
school board within any district to which he 
is assigned, and through the city superintend- 
ent to the board of education, any case of 
gross misconduct, neglect of duty, or general 
inefficiency arising in such district on the 
part of any principal or teacher or other 
member of the educational staff within his 
Jurisdiction. 

Board of snperintendents; lists of 
principals, etc., to be kept by; where 
principals report. 

Sec. 1081. The board of superintendents 
shall keep a list of all principals and teach- 
ers in the service of the board of education 
in the several boroughs, with a record of the 
dates of their appointment, the grades and 
classes taught by them, and of such other 
matters as the board of superintendents may 
prescribe. Such lists shall be open to the in- 
spection of teachers (as to their own records 
only), of members of the board of education, 
of the members of the local school boards, 
of district superintendents, and of principals! 
Principals shall report to the city superin- 
tendent or to the district superintendent 
within their district at ouch times, upon such 
matters, and in such form as the city super- 
intendent or such district superintendent may 
require. 

Promotion or transfer of pupils; rnles 
and regulations. 

Sec. 1082. The board of superintendents 
shall establish for the schools, subject to the 
approval of the board of education, rules and 
regulations for the reception of pupils in the 
schools of the city, the promotion of pupils 
from grade to grade, from school to school, 
for the graduation from all grades of schools 
and for the transfer of pupils from one school 
to another. 

Recommendations of and requisitions 
for text books and scholastic sup- 
plies. 

Sec. 1083. The board of education shall, up- 
on the recommendation of the board of super- 
intendents, approve text books, apparatus 
and other scholastic supplies for use in the 
public schools of the city. Requisitions for 
such text books, apparatus and scholastic 
supplies shall be made by principals upon the 
superintendent of supplies under rules to be 
established by the board of education, but 
no requisition for any school shall be honored 
unless it is approved in writing by the dis- 
trict superintendent of the district where 
such school <s situated. 

Changing grades of schools and class- 
es; courses of study. 

Sec. 1084. The board of education shall have 
power to change the grades of all schools and 
of all classes of any high school or other 
school under its charge upon the written rec- 
ommendation pf the board of superintendents 
and upon the same recommendation to adopt 
and modify course of study for all schools 
under its supervision. 

Duties of the board of superintend- 
ents, city superintendent, district 
superintendents and supervisors with 
reference to special branches. 

Sec. 1085. The board of superintendents, 
jrith4he advice of the directors of the re- 


spective special branches, shall assign to 
the several school districts such teachers 
of drawing, music, physical culture, manual 
training, cooking, sewing or other special 
branches as the board of education may ap- 
point. The district superintendents shall 
assign such teachers of special branches to 
their duties in the schools of the several 
districts to which they are appointed. The 
directors of special branches shall act as 
advisors to the board of superintendents, 
to the district superintendents, and to 
principals, with regard to the special branch- 
es they supervise; under the direction of 
the city superintendent they shall examine 
the work in their several branches, report 
upon the same, and instruct special teachers 
and class teachers in the teaching of their 
several branches. 

Methods of teaching. Syllabuses of 
topics. 

Sec. 1086. Subject to regulations prescribed 
by the board of superintendents, and under 
the supervision of the district superintend- 
ent in charge, the principal of each school 
shall direct the methods of teaching in all 
classes under bis charge. The board of 
superintendents shall have the power, from 
time to time, to issue syllabuses of the 
topics in the various branches taught, which 
shall be regarded as the minimum amount 
of work required in such branches. 

Power to create local school board 
districts; presidents of the boroughs 
to appoint members of the local 
school boards; terms, organization, 
etc., of local school boards. 

Sec. 1087. Prior to the fifteenth day of 
February, nineteen hundred and two, the 
board of education shall divide the boroughs 
under its charge into forty-six local school 
board districts, of which twenty-two shall 
be wholly in the borough of Manhattan, 
fourteen wholly in the borough of Brooklyn, 
four wholly in the borough of The Bronx, 
four wholly in the borough of Queens, and 
two wholly in the borough of Richmond.. 
The districts in each borough must be com-' 
pact in form, and, as near as may be, of 
equal school attendance in the public schools 
therein. Subject to such conditions of 
equality of school attendance and that the 
districts shall be compact in form, the board 
of education shall ‘thereafter have power 
every five yedrs, again to divide the said 
boroughs into said number of districts, 
making such changes in existing districts as 
it deems proper. Upon the division of the 
several boroughs into such districts, and 
upon any redivision thereof as above pro- 
vided. the board of education shall file maps 
of the same, duly authenticated by the 
secretary of the board, in the office of the 
mayor of the City of New York, and at the 
same time shall also file in the office of the 
president of each borough a duplicate, simi- 
larly authenticated, of the portion of said 
maps showing the division or redivision of 
such borough into such districts. There 
shall be in each of said districts a local 
school board consisting of seven members, 
as follows: Five persons to be appointed by 
the president of the borough, a member of 
the board of education designated by the 
president of that board, as hereinafter pro- 
vided, and the district superintendent as- 
signed to duty in such district by the city 
superintendent, as hereinbefore provided. 
When the board of education, pursuant to 
the powers above conferred, shall have di- 
vided any borough or boroughs into local 
school board districts, the presidents of the 


boroughs in which such districts are located 
respectively shall, within thirty days there- 
after, appoint in and for each of such districts 
five members of the local school board to hold 
office respectively as may be designated in 
their letters of appointment, for one, two, 
three, four and five years from the first day 
of January next following the date of their 
appointments. Upon the expiration of their 
respective terms, such presidents shall ap- 
point their successors for the full term of 
five years. Where boundaries of any of the 
local school board districts shall be changed 
by a redivision of a borough or any part 
thereof, the board of education shall have 
power, and it shall be its duty, to designate 
the. new districts within which the local 
school boards appointed for districts affect- 
ed by such redivision shall thereafter act. 
Such designation shall be made in such 
manner that the new district within which 
any local school board shall thereafter act 
shall contain a portion of the district for 
which such board was originally appointed. 
Within such new districts respectively the 
said local school boards shall have the same 
powers, duties and functions theretofore 
exercised by them within the districts for 
which they were originally appointed; and 
they shall serve out ns members of the local 
school board for such new districts the term 
of office for which they were appointed re- 
spectively. All members of local school 
boards shall seyve without pay, and shall 
be residents of the districts in and for which 
they are appointed, except that where local 
school boards are designated by the board of 
education to act in new districts created as 
aforesaid, it shall not be necessary for the 
members thereof to be residents of such 
districts during the remainder of their 
terms of office respectively. Any vacancy 
in any local school board caused by 
death, resignation or otherwise, shall 
be filled for the unexpired term by the 
president of the borough where such va- 
cancy may occur. Each local school board 
shall, within ten days after all the members 
thereof shall have been appointed, in the year 
nineteen hundred and two, aDd on the second 
Monday of January in every year thereafter, 
organize by the election of two of its members 
as chairman and secretary. It shall meet as 
often as may be necessary for the efficient 
performance of the duties imposed upon it, 
and not less than once in each month except- 
ing July and August. The president of the 
board of education shall designate each mem- 
ber of the said board to be an ex-officio mem- 
ber of one local school board within the bor- 
ough where such member shall reside,' and 
he shall serve as a member of such local 
school board for the term of one year or un- 
til the earlier expiration of his term of 
office as a member of the board of education. 
When a member of the board of education 
shall cease for any cause to be a member of 
the local school board to which he is desig- 
nated, the president of the board of educa- 
tion shall designate his successor as above 
provided. A member of the board of edu- 
cation sitting as a member of a local school 
board shall have power to vote, but shall 
not be eligible for election as the chairman 
or secretary of such board. The district su- 
perintendent assigned to any local school 
board district as herein provided shall have 
a seat in the local school board district for 
such district, and the right to speak on all 
matters before the board. But he shall not 
have the right to vote or be eligible for elec- 
tion as chairman or secretary of the board. 
The powers, duties and functions of the in- 
spectors of common schools in office on the 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


117 


thirty-first day of December, nineteen hun- 
dred and one, shall continue until the fif- 
teenth day of February, nineteen hundred 
and two, or until the earlier division of the 
said boroughs into local school board dis- 
tricts as above provided, when they shall 
cease and determine and the offices of said 
inspectors shall thereupon be abolished. 

Duties of local school hoards. 

Sec. 1088. Subject to regulation by the by- 
laws of the board of education, the duties 
and powers of the local school boards shall 
be as follows: (a) In their respective dis- 
tricts, they shall visit, at least once in every 
quarter, all the schools in the district, and 
inspect the same, in respect to punctual and 
regular attendance of the pupils and teach- 
ers, the number and fidelity of the teachers, 
the studies, progress, order and discipline 
of the pupils, the cleanliness, safety, warm- 
ing, ventilation and comfort of school prem- 
ises, and the observance of the provisions of 
the school laws in respect to the teaching of 
sectarian doctrines or the use of sectarian 
books; and • shall call the attention of the 
board of education, without delay, to every 
matter requiring official action. They shall 
also, on or before the first day of January 
and June of each year, make a written re- 
port to the board of education in respect to 
the condition of thd schools, the efficiency 
of teachers, and the w T ants of the district, 
especially in regard to schools and school 
premises, (b) They shall report immediately 
to the board of education w'henever addi- 
tional accommodation is necessary for kind- 
ergarten or elementary school purposes, 
with a recommendation of the sites within 
their respective districts which they con- 
sider it necessary to acquire for such pur- 
poses. They shall also recommend the erec- 
tion of such buildings on said sites or on 
any other property owned by The City of 
New York, and such repairs or alterations 
of school buildings, as they deem necessary 
or desirable. They shall from time to time 
tvhen additional school acommodation is 
necessary report to the board of education 
premises which are suitable and may be hired 
for that purpose, with the terms upon which 
the same may be obtained; such report shall 
be accompanied by a certificate from the 
borough president that the premises so rec- 
ommended comply with the law and ordi- 
nances in relation to buildings to be used 
for school purposes, (c) They shall report 
Immediately to the board of education any 
dereliction of duty on the part of the super- 
intendent of supplies, superintendent of 
school buildings, the city superintendent, or 
any of their deputies or assistants or the em- 
ployes in their respective departments, and 
they shall present to the board of education 
all of the facts and circumstances constitut- 
ing such dereliction of duty, (d) They shall 
have\power to excuse absences of teachers, 
withiHe their respective districts, subject, 
however, to the approval of the board 
of superintendents in cases where teach- 
ers are excused with pay, and in ac- 
cordance with by-laws of the board 
of education prescribing rules to govern all 
such cases, (e) They shall try and determine 
all matters relating to discipline, corporal 
punishment and other matters affecting the 
administration of the schools in their re- 
spective districts arising upon the complaint 
of pupils, parents or guardians against teach- 
ers or principals, and shall impose such pen- 
alties as may be prescribed by the by-laws 
of the board of education. But they shall not 
have power to pass upon any such complaint 
against a teacher until after the matter has 
been referred to the principal of the school in 
Which such teacher is employed, and he has 


made a report thereon, (f) They shall have 
power, and it shall be their duty, to try 
charges made by a principal, a district super- 
intendent or by any parent or guardian of 
a pupil, residing in the district, against a 
teacher employed within their respective 
districts, for gross misconduct, insubordina- 
tion, neglect of duty or inefficiency. On re- 
ceiving notice of said charges they shall im- 
mediately proceed to try and determine the 
case and shall fix the penalty or punishment 
to be imposed for the offense committed, 
which shall consist of a fine, suspension for 
a fixed time without pay, or dismissal. Their 
determination upon such charges and the 
penalty or punishment imposed therefor shall 
be reported Immediately to the board of edu- 
cation, which may reject, confirm or modify 
the determinations of the local board, 
and the penalty or punishment im- 
posed and the decision of the board 
shall be final except as to matters 
in relation to which, under the general 
school laws of the state, an appeal may be 
taken to the state superintendent of public 
instruction, (g) They shall present charges 
of any dereliction of duty on the part of 
janitors in their respective districts and 
present proof thereof to the board of edu- 
cation. (h) They shall procure the enforce- 
ment of the law and the by-laws of the 
board of education relating to the sanitary 
condition of the schools and the health of 
the pupils in their respective districts, (i) 
They shall have power to transfer teachers 
from school to school within their respect- 
ive districts, but only after hearing the 
principals of the schools affected by such 
transfers, and subject to the approval of 
the board of superintendents, provided, how- 
ever, that such transfer shall not involve 
promotion or increase of salary, (j) They 
shall report to the board of education and to 
the board of superintendents all vacancies 
in the teaching force as soon as such vacan- 
cies shall occur, (k) Each local school beard 
shall have power and it shall be its duty 
to adopt by-laws regulating the exercise of 
all powers and duties vested in it, which 
by-laws shall not conflict with the by-laws 
of the board of education or with the pro- 
visions of this chapter. Each local school 
board shall keep a record of the proceed- 
ings of the meetings of the board, which 
shall be open at all times to inspection by 
the board of education or any member there- 
of. The board of education shall from time 
to time provide for such expenses and fur- 
nish such clerical assistance as may be 
necessary for the proper performance by the 
local school boards of the city of the duties 
imposed upon them by this act. The secre- 
tary of a local school board shall have charge 
of the books, papers and documents of the 
board. He is hereby authorized to ad- 
minister oaths and take affidavits in all 
matters pertaining to the schools of The 
City of New York in his district, in which 
a local school board has power to act, and 
for that purpose shall possess all the pow- 
ers of a commissioner of deeds, but shall 
not be entitled to any fees or emoluments 
thereof. The board of education shall pro- 
vide meeting places for the local school 
boards, which may be in any of the school 
buildings in their respective districts: 

Board of examiners} teachers’ licenses, 

etc. 

Sec. 1C89. A board of examiners is here- 
by constituted whose duty it shall be to 
examine all applicants who are required to 
be licensed in and for The City of New York, 
and to issue to those who pass the required 


tests of character, scholarship and general 
fitness, such licenses as they are found en- 
titled to receive. Such board of examiners 
shall consist of the city superintendent of 
schools, together with four persons appoint- 
ed by the board of education upon the nom- 
ination of the city superintendent. The 
terms of the first four examiners so ap- 
pointed shall be one, two, three and four 
years, respectively, and as their terms re- 
spectively expire, their successors shall be 
appointed for a full term of six years, which 
shall thereafter be the full and regular 
term of office of said examiners. They 
shall be paid such compensatibn as the board 
of education shall prescribe. The city super- 
intendent of schools shall have power with 
the consent of the board of education to em- 
ploy assistants temporarily at rates to be 
fixed by the board of ‘education. To be 
eligible to appointment as an examiner, an 
applicant must possess some one of the fol- 
lowing qualifications, to wit: (a) A de- 
gree or diploma of graduation from a col- 
lege or university recognized by the regents 
of the university of the state of New York, 
together with at least five years’ successful 
experience in teaching since graduation, (b) 
A state certificate obtained as the result of 
an examination held since eighteen hundred 
and seventy-five, together with at least ten 
years’ successful experience in teaching, (c) 
The highest certificate for a principal or su- 
perintendent in force when this act takes 
effect in any city included in The City of 
New York a? constituted by this act, to- 
gether with at least ten years’ successful 
experience in teaching. No associate city 
superintendent, district superintendent, prin- 
cipal or teacher in The City of New York 
shall be allowed to serve on the board of 
examiners. The board of education on the 
recommendation of the board of superintend* 
ents shall designate, subject to the'require- 
ments of the state school laws in force when 
this act takes effect or that may hereafter 
be enacted, the kinds or grades of licenses 
to teach which may or shall be used in The 
City of New York together with the aca- 
demic and professional qualifications required 
for each kind or grade of license. The board 
of education, on the recommendation of the 
board of superintendents, shall also desig- 
nate, subject to the like limitations, the 
academical and professional qualifications 
required for service of principals, branch 
principals, supervisors, heads of depart- 
ments, assistants and all other members of 
the teaching staff. The board of exam- 
iners shall hold such examinations as the 
city superintendent may prescribe, and shall 
prepare all necessary eligible lists, which 
shall be kept in the office of the city su- 
perintendent of schools, and be op/m to 
spection by members of the board of educa- 
tion, associate city superintendents and dis- 
trict superintendents, and local school 
boards. All licenses shall be issued in the 
name of the city superintendent of schools. 
Graduates of colleges and universities recog- 
nized by the regents of the university of the 
state or New York, who have pursued for not 
less than one year pedagogical courses, sat- 
isfactory to the city superintendent; graduates 
of schools and colleges for the training of 
teachers, approved by the state superintendent 
of public instruction; and teachers holding a 
state certificate issued by the state superin- 
tendent of public instruction sinoe the year 
eighteen hundred and seventy-five, or holding 
a college graduate’s certificate issued by the 
same authority, or persons who on the flrat 
Monday of February, nineteen hundred tail 


118 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


two, shall be associate borough superinten- 
dents of schools in any borough of The City 
of New York, may be exempted, in whole or 
in part, from such examination at the discre- 
tion of the city superintendent. The names of 
those to whom licenses have been granted, in- 
cluding those exempted from examination and 
those duly licensed in the several boroughs 
prior to the date on which this act takes effect, 
shall be entered by the city superintendent 
upon lists to be filed in his office, a separate 
list being made for each grade or kind of 
license for which the board of education shall 
by its by-laws make provision; and such lists 
shall always be open to the inspection of the 
members of the board of education, the mem- 
bers of the local school boards, the associate 
city superintendents, the district superinten- 
dents and the principals of the schools. Ex- 
cept as city superintendent or associate city 
superintendent or ’district superintendent, as 
director of a special branch, as principal of 
or teacher in a training school or as prin- 
cipal of a high school, no person shall be 
appointed to any educational position whose 
name does not appear upon the proper eligible 
list. No person shall teach in any public 
school in the city who has not such license, 
except as herein otherwise provided, nor 
shall any unlicensed teacher have any claim 
for salary. Licenses to teach shall be issued 
by the city superintendent of schools for a 
period of one year, which may be renewed 
without examination in case the work of the 
holder is satisfactory to the city superinten- 
dent for two successive years. At the close 
of the third year of continuous, successful 
service, the city superintendent may make 
the license permanent. Authority to revoke 
any permanent license for cause shall be 
vested in the state superintendent of public 
instruction. — As amended by Laws of 1901, 
Chapter 718. 

Appointment and resignation of prin- 
cipals and teacliers. 

Sec. 1090. Principals, branch principals, 
heads of departments, teachers, assistants and 
all other members of the teaching staff, shall 
be appointed by the board of education on 
the nomination of the board of superinten- 
dents. Such nominations and appointments 
shall be made except in the case of high 
schools or training schools for teachers, for 
the several local school boar£ districts re- 
spectively, and when so made the principals, 
branch principals, heads of departments, 
teachers, assistants and all other members of 
the teaching staff shall be assigned to duty 
to such schools, and to such positions in 
such schools, as the board of superintendents 
shall determine. Where practicable, teachers 
shall be appointed for districts in the bor- 
oughs where they reside. Teachers and prin- 
cipals may be promoted or transferred from 
one school to any other school within the 
city by the board of superintendents, subject 
to the approval of the board of education; 
provided, however, that the teacher shall not 
be transferred from a school in one borough 
to a school in another borough without his 
or her consent. For all purposes affecting 
the appointment, promotion or transfer of the 
teachers in any school, the district superin- 
tendent assigned to the district in which 
such school is situated, the principal of such 
school and, in the case of transfer, the dis- 
trict superintendent and the principal of the 
school to which it is proposed to transfer a 
teacher, shall have seats In the board of su- 
perintendents, with votes on such proposi- 
tions. The provisions of this section shall 
not be held to affect or Impair the power of 
the several local school boards to transfer 
teachers from F'-'hnol to school within their 


respective districts, as hereinbefore provided. 
The nominations provided for above must 
be made from the list of properly certificated 
principals and teachers and other persons 
eligible for service in the positions to be 
filled, in the regular order of the standing 
of the candidates on said lists, provided, 
however, that the board of superintendents 
may consider for each appointment the three 
persons whose names are highest on the ap- 
propriate eligible lists. Existing eligible lists 
in The City of New York and the relative 
standing of persons whose names are on said 
lists shall not be affected by the passage of 
this act. The time within which said board of 
education shall finally act upon said nomi- 
nations, either by appointing such princi- 
pal or teacher or other officer or by rejecting 
such nominations, is hereby fixed at forty 
days from the filing of such recommenda- 
tion in the office of the secretary of the board. 
The failure on the part of the board of edu- 
cation to confirm or to reject a nomination 
within the time prescribed herein shall be 
held as equivalent to the appointment of the 
principal or teacher nominated. In case of 
a failure or of repeated failures to appoint, 
other names shall be submitted to the board 
of education for its consideration within two 
weeks after each failure, until an appointment 
is made. In case of the consolidation of 
schools or of the discontinuance of any 
school, principals and teachers of good stand- 
ing, who thereby may be deprived of employ- 
ment, shall be preferred in appointments to 
be made in any of the schools of the city. 
Resignations of principals and teachers, and 
of all other members of the teaching staff, 
shall be made to the city superintendent. 

Board of education; Power to tlx sala- 
ries; method, regulatings 

Sec. 1091. The board of education shall have 
power to adopt by-laws fixing the salaries of 
all members of the supervising and the teach- 
ing staff; and the salaries of all principals 
and teachers shall be regulated by merit, 
grade of class taught, length of service, ex- 
perience in teaching, or by a combination of 
these considerations. Such by-laws shall es- 
tablish a uniform schedule of salaries for 
the supervising and the teaching staff 
throughout all boroughs which schedule shall 
provide for an equal annual increment of 
salary of such an amount, that no kinder- 
gartner. or female teacher of girls’ class 
other than those teaching grades of the last 
two years in the elementary schools shall, 
after sixteen years of service in said schools, 
receive less than twelve hundred and forty 
dollars per annum; and no female teacher of 
a girls’ class of the grades of the last two 
years in said schools shall, after fifteen years 
of service in said schools receive less than 
thirteen hundred and twenty dollars per 
annum; and no female teacher of a girls’ 
graduating class, female first assistant, or fe- 
male viee principal, shall after ten years serv- 
ice in said school, receive less than fourteen 
hundred and forty dollars per annum; and no 
female teacher of a boys’ or a mixed class shall 
receive less than sixty dollars per annum 
more than a female teacher of a girls’ class 
of a corresponding grade and of years of serv- 
ice; and no female teacher in said elementary 
schools shall receive less than six hundred 
dollars per annum, nor shall the annual in- 
crement for any female teacher therein be 
less than forty dollars; and no male teacher 
of a class of the grades of the last two years 
in said schools, shall, after twelve years of 
service in said schools, receive less than 
twenty-one hundred and sixty dollars per 
anrnm; and m male traahrf of n graduaMra 


class, male first assistant, or male vice-prin- 
cipal shall after ten years of service in said 
schools receive less than twenty-four hun- 
dred dollars per annum; and no male teach- 
er in said elementary schools shall receive 
less than nine hundred dollars per annum, 
nor shall the annual increment for any male 
teacher therein be less than one hundred and 
five dollars; thatno female head of department, 
or female assistant to the principal in said 
schools shall receive less than sixteen hun- 
dred dollars per annum after ten years of 
service; and no male head of department or 
male assistant to the principal in said schools 
shall receive less than twenty-four hundred 
dollars per annum after ten years of service; 
that in high schools and training schools for 
teachers no female junior or substitute teach- 
er, female laboratory br library assistant, or 
female clerk, shall receive less than seven 
hundred dollars per annum, nor after six 
years of service as such, less than one thou- 
sand dollars per annum; no female model 
teacher shall receive less than one thousand 
dollars per annum; nor after .five years of 
service as such, less than fifteen hundred 
dollars per annum, no female regular teach- 
er in said schools shall receive less than 
eleven hundred dollars per annum, nor after 
ten years of service as such, less than nine- 
teen hundred dollars per annum; no female 
head teacher, female assistant to the princi- 
pal, female first assistant, or female vice- 
principal in said schools shall receive less 
than two thousand dollars per annum, nor 
after five years of service as such, less than 
twenty-five hundred dollars per annum; no 
male junior or substitute teacher, male lab- 
oratory or library assistant, or male clerk, 
shall receive less than nine hundred dollars 
per annum, nor after six years of service as 
such, less than twelve hundred dollars per 
annum; no male regular teacher in said 
schools shall receive less than thirteen hun- 
dred dollars per annum, nor after ten years 
of service as such, less than twenty-four 
hundred dollars per annum; no male head 
teacher, male assistant to the principal, male 
first assistant, or male vice-principal in said 
schools, shall receive less than twenty-five 
hundred dollars per annum, nor after five 
years of service as such, less than three 
thousand dollars per annum; nor shall any 
of said persons therein receive a salary less 
than that to which by reason of experience 
such person would be entitled as a teacher of 
the aforesaid elementary schools; provided, 
however, that none of the aforesaid members 
of the supervising and the teaching staff 
of any of the elementary schools shall receive 
a salary greater than that fixed for the sev- 
enth year of service unless and until the serv- 
ice of any such member shall have been ap- 
proved after inspection and Investigation as 
fit and meritorious by a majority of the board 
of superintendents; that none of the 
aforesaid members of the supervising 
and the teaching staff of any of the 
elementary schools shall receive a sal- 
ary greater than that fixed for tb'> twelfth 
year of service, unless and until the service 
of any such member shall have been ap- 
proved after inspection and investigation as 
fit and meritorious by a majority of the 
beard of superintendents; that none of the 
aforesaid members of the supervising and 
the teaching staff of any of the high or 
training schools shall receive a salary great- 
er than that fixed for the fourth year of 
service unless and until the service of any 
such member shall have been approved after 
inspection and investigation as fit and meri- 
torious by a majority of the board of super- 
intendents, and that none of the aforesaid 

!">’ S'** 7 ' f ' '• ' \ t~-» t r - _ 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 


119 


lng staff of any of the high or training 
schools shall receive a salary greater than 
that fixed for the ninth year of service un- 
less and until the service of any such mem- 
ber shall have been approved after inspection 
and investigation as fit and meritorious by 
a majority of the board of superintendents; 
and the board of superintendents shall ap- 
prove or disapprove the service of the afore- 
said members of the supervising and the 
teaching staff within forty days before the 
date on which said members shall, respect- 
ively, become eligible to the increase of sal- 
aries conditioned upon the approval of said 
service. For the purposes affecting such 
increases of salaries of said persons in any 
schools, the district superintendent assigned 
to the district in which such school is situ- 
ated shall have a seat in the board of super- 
intendents, with a vote on such fitness and 
merit; that no female branch principal or 
female principal of an elementary school 
having not less than twelve classes shall re- 
ceive less than twenty-five hundred dollars 
per annum after ten years of service as such 
in said schools; and no male branch principal 
or male principal of an elementary or a high 
school having not less than twelve classes 
shall receive less than thirty-five hundred 
dollars per annum after ten years of serv- 
ice as such in said schools; and a principal 
of said schools shall receive an equal annual 
increment of two hundred and fifty dollars; 
provided, however, that the service of such 
principal or branch principal shall have been 
approved after inspection and investigation 
as fit and meritorious by a majority of the 
board of superintendents; and no principal 
of a high school or training school for teach- 
ers having supervision of not less than 
twenty-five teachers therein shall receive 
less than five thousand dollars per annum. 
The board of examiners shall issue to a prin- 
cipal or a teacher who has had experience 
in schools other than the schools of The City 
of New York a certificate stating that the 
experience of such teacher is equivalent to 
'a certain number of years of experience 
in the schools of the said city. 
The board of examiners shall issue to a 
principal or teacher who has had experience 
in schools other than the high and training 
schools of The City of New York, a certifi- 
cate stating that the experience of such 
teacher is equivalent to a certain number 
of years of experience in the high and train- 
ing schools of the said city. Such certificates 
made by the board of examiners shall be 
final and conclusive on all matters pertaining 
to experience therein stated, and shall en- 
title their holders to salaries in accordance 
with the schedules of salaries established in 
conformity with this section, in like manner 
as though the years mentioned in such cer- 
tificates had been served in those schools of 
The City of New York that are respectively 
mentioned in such certificates. No salary 
now paid to any member of the supervising 
and the teaching staff of any of the public 
schools in The City of New York shall be re- 
duced by the operation of this section, and 
the aforesaid equal annual increment for each 
class or grade of the supervising and the 
teaching staff of said public schools shall 
be uniform throughout each class or grade, 
and each of said persons shall at once receive 
all the emolument in accordance with the 
above schedule of minimum salaries to which 
said person is entitled by reason of merit, 
of experience and of grade of class taught. 
Public school teachers’ retirement 

fund. 

Sec. 1092. The board of education is 
hereby given the general care and manage- 
ment the . ih IS s ..o 1 t; a !.'■ t .*e 


ment fund created for the former city of 
New York by chapter two hundred and nine- 
ty-six of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-four, and of the public school teach- 
ers’ retirement fund created for the former 
city of Brooklyn by chapter six hundred 
and fifty-six of the laws of eighteen hundred 
and ninety-five, and said funds are hereby 
made parts of the retirement fund of the 
board of education of the city of New York 
created by this act. The comptroller of the 
city of New York shall hold and invest all 
money belonging to said fund, and by the 
direction of said board of education shall 
pay out the same. The board of education 
shall have charge of and minister said re- 
tirement fund as it shall deem most bene- 
ficial to said fund, and shall make payments 
from such fund of annuities granted in pur- 
suance of this act. Said board shall, from 
time to time, establish such rules and reg- 
ulations for the administration of said fund 
as it may deem best; which rules and reg- 
ulations shall preserve all rights inhering 
in the teachers of the city of New York and 
the city of Brooklyn as constituted prior to 
the passage of this act. And the comptroller 
of the city of New York shall report in 
detail to the board of education of The City 
of New York, annually, in the month of 
January, the condition of said fund and the 
items of the receipts and disbursements on 
account of the same. The said retirement 
fund shall consist of the following, with the 
interest and income thereof: (1) All money, 
pay, compensation or salary or any income 
thereof forfeited, deducted, reserved or 
withheld from any teacher or teachers in 
the public schools of The City of New York 
and in schools or classes maintained in In- 
stitutions controlled by the department of 
public charities or the department of correc- 
tion for any cause in pursuance of rules es- 
tablished or to be established by the board 
of education or by the commissioner of pub- 
lic charities or the commissioner of 
correction for schools or classes main- 
tained by such commissioners respect- 
ively. The secretary of the board of educa- 
tion, the commissioner of public charities 
and the commissioner of correction shall cer- 
tify monthly to the comptroller the amounts 
so forfeited, deducted, reserved or withheld 
from the salaries of teachers during the pre- 
ceding month. (2) All moneys received from 
donations, legacies, gifts, bequests, or other- 
wise for or on account of said fund. (3) Five 
per centum annually of all excise moneys 
or license fees belonging to The City of New 
York, and derived or received by any com- 
missioner of excise or public officer from 
the granting of licenses or permission to 
sell strong or spirituous liquors, ale, wine 
or beer in The City of New York, under the 
provision of any law of this state authoriz- 
ing the granting of such license or permis- 
sion. The comptroller of The City of New 
York shall hold such moneys together with 
any other moneys belonging to said fund 
and by direction of the said board of edu- 
cation shall have charge of and administer 
the same as hereinbefore in this section 
provided. (4) All such other methods of 
increment as may be duly and legally de- 
vised for the increase of said fund. On 
and after the passage of this act, the board 
of education shall, by amending its by-laws 
relating to the excuse of absence of teachers 
with pfty, so provide that the aggregate of 
the several sums deducted or forfeited on 
account of absence from duty shall be fully 
'adequate to meet the demands made upon 
;■ •• , lie t —.1 v '.’r.T *r«t 


for the payment of annuities as herein pro- 
vided. On the recommendation of the city 
superintendent said board of education shall 
have power, by a two-thirds vote of all its 
members to retire any member of the teach- 
ing or supervising staff. Including the mem- 
bers of the board of examiners, who is 
mentally or physically incapacitated for the 
performance of duty and has been engaged 
in the work of teaching or school super- 
vision for a period aggregating thirty years, 
twenty of which shall have been in the 
public schools of The City of New York. And 
the board of education may retire from 
active service any member of the said teach- 
ing or supervising staff who shall have at- 
tained the age of sixty-five years and shall 
have been engaged in the work of teaching 
or school supervision for a period aggregat- 
ing thirty years, twenty of which shall have 
been in the public schools of The City of 
New York. The said board of education 
shall also have power by a two-thirds vote 
of all its members, and after a recommenda- 
tion to that effect shall have been made by 
the board of trustees of the normal college 
stating that the member of the supervising 
or teaching force is mentally or physically 
incapacitated for the performance of duty, 
to retire any member of the teaching or 
supervising force of the normal col- 
lege or of the training department of 
the normal college who shall have been 
engaged in said normal college or training 
department for ten years and shall have 
been engaged in some university, college, 
academy or school or in the public schools 
in this state or elsewhere during a period 
aggregating thirty years. The said board of 
education, upon the recommendation of the 
trustees of the normal college, may also, in 
its discretion, retire any such member of 
the teaching or supervising force upon his 
or her own application after the like 
period or service. Upon such retirement, 
whether voluntary or otherwise, the person 
retired shall be entitled to receive an an- 
nuity out of the teachers’ retirement fund of 
not less than one-half the annual salary 
paid to such person at the period of retire- 
ment, and in case of the president or of a 
professor to such an additional sum per an- 
num as will Increase such one-half of the 
salary previously paid if not an even mul- 
tiple of one thousand dollars to an even mul- 
tiple of one thousand dollars, and in no case 
shall such an annuity be less than six hun- 
dred dollars. All money, pay, compensation 
or salary or any part thereof forfeited, de- 
ducted or withheld from any member of the 
teaching or supervising force of the normal 
college and training department for and on 
account of absence from duty for any cause 
shall be turned into the teachers' retirement 
fund by the board of trustees of said col- 
lege. Said board of education shall also 
have power by a two-thirds vote of all its 
members and after a recommendation to 
that effect shall have been made by the 
commissioner of public charities or the com- 
missioner of correction, stating that the su- 
perintendent or teacher is mentally or phys- 
ically incapacitated for the performance of 
duty, to retire any superintendent or teacher 
of any schools or classes maintained by the 
department of public charities or the de- 
partment of correction, respectively, who 
shall have taught in said school or classes 
or in the public schools during a period ag- 
gregating thirty years. The said board of 
education, upon the recommendation of 
either of the said commissioners may also, 
!r. its a: -it ’ rrtlr? ary ruch i—tt't*- 

i 


120 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


tendent or teacher who shall have attained 
the age of sixty-five years, upon his or her 
own application, after a like period of serv- 
ice. Any teacher, principal, superintendent 
or supervising official, including members of 
the board of examiners, so retired, shall 
thereafter be entitled to receive as an an- 
nuity, one-half of the annual salary paid to 
said teachers, principal, superintendent or 
supervising official, at the date of said re- 
tirement, not to exceed, however, in the 
case of a teacher, the sum of one thousand 
dollars per annum, and in the case of a 
principal, fifteen hundred dollars per annum, 
and in the case of a supervising official, two 
thousand dollars per annum. And in no case 
shall such annuity for any teacher, already 
retired or hereafter to be retired, be less 
than six hundred dollars. The said board is 
hereby given the power to use both the 
principal and income of said fund. Teach- 
ers hereafter appointed in schools or classes 
maintained in the institutions controlled by 
the department of public charities or the 
department of correction, shall be appointed 
by the commissioner of the appropriate de- 
partment upon the nomination of the city 
superintendent of schools and shall be li- 
censed by the board, of examiners of the de- 
partment of education. The department of 
education through such representatives as it 
may designate shall maintain an effective 
visitation and inspection of all such schools 
or classes'. — As amended by Laws of 1902, 
Chapter 530. As amended by Laws of 1903, 
Chapter 177. 

Chnrftes against principal anti teach- 
ers and others; proceedings thereon. 

Sec. 1093. A local school board or any 
member thereof, the city superintendent, an 
associate city superintendent or a district su- 
perintendent, may prefer charges to the 
board of education against a principal, a 
branch principal, a director, a head of depart- 
ment, or any other officer exercising super- 
vising powers in the schools under their 
charge, or against .a teacher In any of the 
schools under their charge, for gross mis- 
conduct, Insubordination, neglect of duty or 
general inefficiency. Pending trial, the 
board of education may suspend said princi- 
pal or teacher or other officer, with or 
•without pay, and appoint a substitute in his 
place, in accordance with by-laws to be 
passed by the board of education, a dis- 
trict superintendent shall have the 
like power to suspend a teacher, in a school 
within his district, and shall forthwith report 
such suspension to the city superintendent, 
who shall immediately report it to the board 
of education. Pending action by the board of 
education, the city superintendent may ap- 
point a substitute in the place of any teacher 
so suspended. The board of education, on re- 
ceiving notice of such charges shall imme- 
diately proceed to try and determine the case, 
either in the board or by a committee of Its 
body, and shall fix the penalty of punishment, 
if any, to be imposed for the offense, and such 
penalty or punishment shall consist of a fine, 
suspension for a fixed time without pay, or 
dismissal; provided, however, that a vote of 
a majority of all the members of the board 
of education shall be necessary to impose the 
penalty of dismissal. The report of any 
committee holding such trial shall be subject 
to final action by the board, which may re- 
ject, confirm or modify the conclusions of the 
committee, and the decision of the board 
shall be final, except as to matters in rela- 
tion to which, under the general school laws 
of the state, an appeal may be taken to the 
state superintendent of public instruction. In 
Case the principal or other officer or teacher 


is acquitted, he shall be restored to his posi- 
tion with full pay for the period of suspen- 
sion. In all trials authorized by this chapter 
all testimony taken shall be under oath, 

| which the president of the board of educa- 
I tion, chairman of a local school board or 
chairman of the committee conducting the 
trial Is hereby authorized to administer, and 
the supreme court shall have power, upon 
the application of such president or chairman, 
to compel any witness who may be sum- 
moned, to appear and testify before said 
board of education, local school board or com- 
mittee. 

Annual report to state superintendent 

of public instruction. 

Sec. 1094. The board of education shall, be- 
tween the first day of August and the thir- 
tieth day of September in each year, make 
and transmit to the state superintendent of 
public instruction a report in writing for the 
state school year ending on the next preced- 
ing thirty-first day of July, which report shall 
be in such form and shall state such facts 
as the state superintendent and the school 
laws of the state shall require. 

Annual report to mayor; other reports 

to mayor. 

Sec. 1096. The board of education shall, be- 
tween the first day of August and the thir- 
tieth day of November in each year, make 
and transmit to the mayor of The City of 
New York a report in writing, for the year 
ending on the thirty-first day of July next 
preceding, stating the whole number of 
schools under its jurisdiction during the said 
year, ending on the thirty-first day of July; 
the number of teachers; the total number of 
pupils on register, and the average attendance 
at each school; the number of high schools 
and training schools for teachers, with the 
number of teachers and the attendance of 
pupils at each; the corporate schools or so- 
cieties from which reports have been made, 
as elsewhere prescribed in this act» the length 
of time such schools have been kept open, 
and the number of teachers and of pupils 
taught in each such school. The board df 
education shall also between the first day of 
January and the fifteenth day of February In 
each year make and transmit to the mayor of 
The City of New York another report bearing 
date the thirty-first day of December next 
preceding, stating the total amount of money 
expended for the purposes of public education 
in said city during the year ending on said 
thirty-first day of December. The board of 
education shall also make in said reports 
such suggestions and recommendations rela- 
tive to the public schools of The City of New 
York as it may deem proper. 

Removals by mayor after bearing; for 

neglect or misconduct. 

Sec. 1096. Any member of the board of edu- 
cation, or of a local school board, may be 
removed by the mayor of said city, upon proof 
either of official misconduct in office, or negli- 
gence of official duties, or of conduct in any 
manner connected with his official duties, or 
otherwise, which tends to discredit his of- 
fice, or the school system, or for mental or 
physical inability to perform his duties, but 
before such removal of said member he shall 
receive due and timely notice in writing of 
the charges and a copy thereof, and shall be 
entitled to a hearing on like notice before the 
mayor, and to the assistance of counsel on 
said hearing. 

The board of education to cause ac- 
counts anil records to be made and 

kept. 

Sec. 1097. The board of education 
shall provide the proper book or books. 


in form as required by its by-laws, 
and shall cause the class teachers un- 
der the direction and supervision of 
the principal to enter the names, ages 
and residences of the scholars attending the 
school, the name of the parent or guardian 
of each pupil and the days on which the 
scholars shall have attended respectively, 
and the aggregate attendance of each scholar 
during the year, and also the day upon which 
the school shall have been visited by the city 
superintendent or by an associate city super- 
intendent or by the district superintendent, 
or by members of the board of education, 
or by members of the local school board, or 
by any of them, which entry shall be veri- 
fied by such oath or affirmation of the prin- 
cipal as may be prescribed by the board of 
education. These books shall be preserved 
as the property of the board of education 
and shall at all times be open to inspec- 
tion by members of the board of education, 
by members of the local school boards and 
by the city superintendent, or by any asso- 
ciate city superintendent, or by the district 
superintendents. 

School officers not to be interested In 

contracts; removal of. 

Sec. 1098. The board of education shall 
have power to remove from office any school 
officer who shall have been directly or in- 
directly interested in the furnishing of any 
supplies or materials, or in the doing of any 
work or labor, or in the sale or leasing of 
any real estate, or in any proposal, agree- 
ment or contract for any of these purposes, 
in any case in which the price or considera- 
tion is to be paid, in whole or in part, di- 
rectly or indirectly, out of any school moneys, 
or who shall have received, from any source 
whatever, any commission or compensation 
in connection with any of the matters afore- 
said; and any school officer who shall violate 
the preceding provisions of this section shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
upon conviction thereof, shall be punished 
by a fine not exceeding one thousand dol- 
lars or imprisonment in the city prison not 
exceeding one year, or both, and shall also 
be ineligible to any school office. The pro- 
visions of this section shall not apply to 
authors of school books used in any of the 
public schools because of any Interest they 
may have as authors in such books. 

Contributions to political fnnds, etc., 

prohibited. 

Sec. 1099. Neither the city superintendent 
of schools, nor any associate or district su- 
perintendent of schools, nor any member of 
the board of examiners, nor any member of 
the supervising or teaching staff of the de- 
partment of education of The City of New 
York, shall be permitted to contribute any 
moneys, directly or indirectly, to any fund 
Intended to affect legislation increasing their 
emoluments. 

Powers of investigation. 

Sec. 1100. The board of education may in- 
vestigate, of its own motion or otherwise, 
either in the board or by a committee of its 
own body, any subject of which it has cog- 
nizance or over which it has legal control. 
Including the conduct of any of its members 
or employes or those of any local school 
board; and for the purpose of such inves- 
tigation, such board or Its president, or com- 
mittee and its chairman, shall have and may 
exercise all the powers which the board of 
education has or may exercise in the case 
of a trial under section one thousand and 
ninety-three of this act. Any action ®r de- 
termination of a committee appointed under 


t 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW 


th© provisions of this section shall be sub- 
ject to approval or reversal by the board, 
which may also modify the determination 
of the committee in such way as the board 
shall deem proper and just, and the judg- 
ment of the board thereon shall be final. 

Continuation in ofllce of all employes 

under the public school system. 

Sec. 1101. Except as herein otherwise pro- 
vided, the city superintendent, the members 
of the board of examiners, the supervisors, 
the directors, and all principals, teachers 
and other members of the educational staff 
in the public school system of any part of 
The City of New York, and all school offi- 
cers or other employes appointed by the 
board of education before this act takes ef- 
fect, Including the secretary of the board, 
the city superintendent of schools, the su- 
perintendent of school buildings, the super- 
intendent of school supplies, the auditors, 
and all deputies, clerks and other employes 
In their respective offices, shall continue to 
hold their respective positions and to be 
entitled to such compensation as is now 
provided or may hereafter be provided by 
the lawful authority, subject to change of 
title, to reassignment or to removal for 
cause, as may be provided by law, and sub- 
ject to the right of the said board to abolish 
unnecessary positions. The secretaries, cler- 
ical force and employes of the several bor- 
ough school boards abolished by this act, 
including the supervisor of lectures for the 
boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, 
shall be assigned by the board of 
education, and the clerical force and 
the employes of the several bor- 
ough superintendents and boards of bor- 
ough superintendents also abolished by this 
act shall be assigned by the board of super- 
intendents, to positions and duties cor- 
responding as nearly as may be to their 
respective positions and duties before this 
act takes effect without prejudice or advan- 
tage, provided, however, that nothing herein 
contained shall be construed to repeal, limit, 
modify or abridge any provisions of law or 
civil service regulations relative to the re- 
moval of subordinates by public officers or 
heads of departments, or to affect the right 
of adding to the duties or reducing the salary 
of any secretary, clerk or employe and abol- 
ishing unnecessary positions. All licenses 
to teach are certificates of qualifications for 
teaching granted by the superintendent of 
public instruction of the city of Brooklyn, 
or by authority of the board of education of 
the said city of Brooklyn, prior to February 
first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
or recognized by the board of education of the 
said city of Brooklyn or the state super- 
intendent of public instruction as in force at 
that date in said city, shall unless revoked 
for cause by the state superintendent of pub- 
lic instruction, be recognized by the city 
superintendent of schools and the board of 
examiners of The City of New York, as in 
full force, and shall entitle the holders to 
appointment or promotion to any position to 
which they were respectively eligible by the 
position of such licenses or certificates. All 
persons heretofore transferred under the pro- 
visions of this chapter as originally enacted 
to the service of the consolidated city who 
hold offices for definite terms, shall be 
deemed to have been transferred for the re- 
mainder of their respective terms only. 

School money appropriation l)y the 

state to the public schools of the city. 

Sec. 1,102. Whenever the city clerk shall 
receive notice from the state superintendent 
of public instruction of the amount of moneys 
apportioned to The City of New York for 


the support and encouragement of common 
schools therein, he shall immediately lay the 
same before the board of aldermen of said 
city; and the chamberlain of the said city 
shall apply for and receive the' school moneys 
apportioned to the said citv as soon as the 
same become payable, and place the same in 
the city treasury, to the credit of the gen- 
eral fund for the reduction of taxation. 

TITLE 2. 

THE COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW 
YORK. 

To continue us u separate corporation. 

Sec. 1,127. The College of the City of New 
York shall continue to be a separate and 
distinct organization and body corporate, and 
as such shall have the powers and privileges 
of a college, pursuant to the revised statutes 
of this state, and be subject to the provi- 
sions of the said statute relative to colleges, 
and to the visitation of regents of the uni- 
versity, in like manner with the other col- 
leges of the state. 

Trustees of college of city of New 

York; number, appointment. 

Sec. 1,128. The board of trustees of said 
college on and after the first day of July, 
nineteen hundred, shall consist of nine resi- 
dents of the city to be appointed as herein- 
after provided, of the president of the board 
of education of the city ex officio and of 
the president of said college ex officio. Pro- 
vided, however, that after the president of 
said college now in office vacates the same, 
his successor shall not be a member of said 
board of trustees. Except as herein other- 
wise provided, the said board shall have and 
possess the powers conferred upon and be 
subject to the duties required of the trustees 
of colleges by the university law. The mayor 
of The City of New York shall appoint be- 
fore the first day of June, nineteen hundred, 
nine persons to serve as such trustees, to 
hold office respectively as shall be designated 
by the mayor, for one, two, three, four, five, 
six, seven, eight and nine years from the first 
day of July, nineteen hundred. On or before 
the first day of June prior to the expiration 
of the term of office of any trustee the mayor 
shall appoint his successor for a full term 
of nine years from the first day of July fol- 
lowing. The mayor shall fill any Vacancy 
existing in the office of trustee — other than 
the president of the board of education — by 
the appointment of a trustee to hold office 
for the unexpired term. Each trustee so 
appointed shall take the oath of office re- 
quired by the constitution of the state. Any 
resignation from the office of trustee shall 
be made to the mayor. No trustee shall be 
subject to removal under the provisions of 
section ninety-five of this act, but any trus- 
tee may be removed by the mayor upon proof 
either of official misconduct or negligence 
of official duties, or of conduct in any man- 
ner connected with his official duties or 
otherwise whioh tends to discredit his office, 
or the school system, or for mental or physi- 
cal inability to perform his duties, but be- 
fore such removal he shall receive due and 
timely notice in writing of the charges and a 
copy thereof, and shall be entitled to a 
hearing on like notice before the mayor, 
and to the assistance of counsel on 
said hearing. The board of trustees 
shall have power to prescribe bylaws 
and regulations for the board and for 
the government of the college, its faculty, 
instructors and other employes. Such by- 
laws shall include rules governing the ap- 
pointment of all officers, members of the 


YORK. 121 


faculty, instructors and other employes of 
the college. A majority of the ipembers of 
the board appointed by the mayor as afore- 
said shall constitute a quorum for the trans- 
action of business and no resolution or act 
of the board shall be invalid by reason of 
any vacancy existing in the board, provided 
that such act or resolution shall be adopted 
by a vote of five members of the board. 

Laws applicable. 

Sec. 1129. All acts of the legislature which 
were in force on March thirtieth, eighteen 
hundred and sixty-six, in regard to the free 
academy, and to its control, management, 
support and affairs, not since modified or re- 
pealed, and w’hlch are not inconsistent with 
the provisions of this act, and all laws in 
force at the time this act takes effect rela- 
tive to the College of the City of New York 
not inconsistent with this act are hereby 
declared to be applicable to the said college. 

Participation In state literatnre and 

other funds. 

Sec. 1130. The College of the City of New 
York shall be entitled to participate in the 
distribution of the income of the literature 
and other funds in the same manner and 
upon the same conditions as the other col- 
leges of the state, and the regents of the 
University of the State of New York shall 
pay annually to the oomptroller of The City 
of New York, as trustee for said college, the 
distributive share of the said funds to which 
the said college of The City of New York 
shall, by law, be entitled, and which shall be 
applied and expended for library books for 
the said college. 

College officials and professors’ retire- 
ment fund. 

Sec. 1130a. A retirement fund for the pres- 
ident, vice president, professors, assistant 
professors and instructors of the College of 
the City of New York is hereby created, and 
shall consist of one per centum annually, or 
as much thereof as is necessary for the pur- 
pose of this act, of all excise moneys or li- 
cense fees belonging to The City of New York 
as constituted by this act and derived or re- 
ceived in any current year by any commis- 
sioner of excise or public officer from the 
granting of licenses or permission to sell 
strong or spirituous liquors, ale, wine or 
beer or of any moneys paid for taxes upon 
the business of trafficking in or selling or 
dealing in strong or spirituous liquors, ale, 
wine or beer, in the boroughs of Manhattan, 
Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond un- 
der the provisions of any law of this state 
authorizing the granting of any such license 
or permission, the said one per centum, or as 
much thereof as is necessary, to be paid by 
the comptroller of said city, who is hereby 
authorized and required to pay the same to 
the persons entitled to the said retirement 
fund as hereinafter prescribed, such sum to 
amount in each and every year to not more 
than one per centum on the excise fund be- 
longing to said city, nor to exceed such 
amount as may be required to pay the full 
amount of annuities allowed. The comptrol- 
ler of The City of New York shall by the 
direction and request of said board of trus- 
tees of said college pay out the same. The 
comptroller of The Cjty of New York shall 
report in detail to the board of trustees 
of said college annually in the month of 
January the amounts paid out by him in 
the preceding year for account of said re- 
tirement fund. Said board of trustees shall 
have power by a two-thirds vote of all its 
members to retire any member of the super- 
vising or teaching staff of said college, who 


122 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


shall have attained the age of 65 years, and 
shall have been engaged as a supervising 
officer, professor, assistant professor or in- 
structor in said college for ten years, and 
has taught in some university, college, acad- 
emy, educational institution or in the com- 
moh schools of this or some other state in 
the United States for thirty pears, and in 
the event of such retirement shall be entitled 
to the annuity hereinafter provided, and any 
president, vice president, professor, assist- 
ant professor or instructor who shall have 
served consecutively for twenty years in said 
college or who is connected with said college 
and shall have served said college for ten 
years and taught or acted as supervising of- 
ficer in some university, college, academy, 
educational institution or in the common 
schools of this or some other state in the 
United States for thirty years, shall, on 
his own application, be permitted to retire, 
from the active service of said college, and 
upon such retirement, duly approved by a 
majority vote of the board of trustees of 
said college, shall be entitled to receive an 
annuity out of said retirement fund of not 
less than one-half the annual salary paid to 
him at the date of such retirement, and in 
case of the president an additional sum of 
one thousand dollars, in case of a vice presi- 
dent an additional sum of five hundred dol- 
lars, and should said annuity, in the case of 
a professor, be less than three thousand dol- 
lars, then the said board may, in its dis- 
cretion, increase said annuity to not more 
than three thousand dollars. The said board 
shall have power by a two-thirds vote of all 
its members to appoint any supervising of- 
ficer, professor, assistant professor or in- 
structor, who has been retired as herein- 
before provided, to active duty for a term 
of not more than one year in a position simi- 
lar to that formerly held by him. Such su- 
pervising officer, professor, assistant profes- 
sor or instructor so appointed to active duty 
shall be entitled to the annuity to be paid 
out of the retirement fund as hereinbefore 
provided and an additional sum to be paid 
out of funds in the hands of the board of 
trustees for the general expenses of the col- 
lege, as compensation for his services, which 
additional sum shall be equal to the differ- 
ence between the amount of the annuity 
received by him and the amount of his sal- 
ary for the year immediately preceding his 
retirement, so that the total amount paid 
him shall equal his salary for the year im- 
mediately preceding his retirement. Any 
such appointment heretofore made by said 
board is hereby ratified and confirmed and 
such appointee is entitled to the annuity 
hereinbefore provided and an additional sum 
as above provided as compensation for his 
services. — Added by Laws of 1902, Chapter 
604. As amended by Laws of 1903, Chapter 
438. 

Duties of trustees to report. 

Sec. 1131. It shall be the duty of the trus- 
tees of said college, annually on or before 
the first day of September, to report to the 
board of estimate and apportionment such 
sum, not exceeding one hundred and seventy- 
five thousand dollars in any one year, as 
they may require for the payment of the sal- 
aries of the professors and officers of said 
college, for obtaining and furnishing scien- 
tific apparatus, books for the students and 
all other necessary supplies therefor; for re- 
pairing and altering the college buildings; 
and for the support, maintenance and gen- 
eral expenses of said college; and the said 
board of estimate and apportionment and the 
board of aldermen of The City of New York 
are hereby authorized and directed in each 
and ever - .' v?'r to rri* - * collect hv tr' 


on the estate, real and personal, liable to 
taxation in said city, such sum of money, 
not exceeding the amount aforesaid, as may 
be reported to them by said trustees; the 
amount so to be raised and collected to be 
in addition to the sums required for the pur- 
poses of common schools in The City of New 
York under the act entitled “An act to amend, 
consolidate and reduce to one act the 
several acts of the state of New York rela- 
tive to the common schools of The City of 
New York,” passed July third, eighteen 
hundred and fifty-one, and the several acts 
amendatory thereto. Upon the recommen- 
dation of the trustees, the board of estimate 
and apportionment and the board of aider- 
men may increase, from time to time, the 
amount annually to be raised in the tax 
levy for the maintenance of the College of 
The City of New York. 

Instruction to I>e furnished gratuitous- 
ly by College of the City of New 

York; degrees and diplomas. 

Sec. 1132. The trustees of said college 
shall continue to furnish through the Col- 
lege of the City of New York, the benefit 
of education, gratuitously, to boys who have 
been pupils in the common schools of the 
city, and to all other male students who are 
actual residents of said city, and who are 
qualified to pass the required examination 
for admission to said college. And the trus- 
tees, upon the recommendation of the fac- 
ulty of the said college may grant the usual 
degrees and diplomas in the arts to such 
persons as shall have completed a full 
course of study in the said college. 

Reports by trustees to be furnished. 

Sec. 1133. The trustees of the College of 
the City of New York shall make and trans- 
mit, annually, on or before the first day of 
February in each year, to the board of aider- 
men and also to the secretary of the board 
of regents of the university of the state of 
New York a report, dated on the thirty- 
first day of December next preceding, which 
report shall state the names and ages of all 
the pupils instructed in such college dur- 
ing the preceding year, and the time that 
each was so instructed, specifying which 
of them have completed a full course of 
study therein, and which have received de- 
grees, medals and other special testimo- 
nials, a particular statement of the studies 
pursued by each pupil since the last pre- 
ceding report, together with the books such 
student shall have studied, in whole or in 
part, and if in part, what portion; an ac- 
count or estimate of the library, philosophi- 
cal and chemical apparatus, and mathemati- 
cal or other scientific instruments belong- 
ing to such college; the names of the in- 
structors employed in said college, and the 
compensation paid to each; what amount of 
money the board of education received dur- 
ing the year for the purposes of such col- 
lege, and from what sources, specifying how 
much from each, and the particular manner, 
and the specific purposes for w'hich such 
moneys have been expended; and such other 
information in relation to education in the 
said college and the measures of the board 
of trustees in the management thereof, as 
the board of aldermen or the regents of the 
university of the state of New York may, 
from time to time, require. 

TITLE 3. 

THE NORMAL COLLEGE. 

The Normal College of the City of New 

York, a corporation and college. 

Sec. 1139. The Normal College of the 

City of Nmv York is Vrivl'y declared f le 


a separate and distinct organization and 
body corporate, and as such shall have the 
power and privileges of a college pursuant 
to the revised statutes of this state, and be 
subject to the provisions of the said statutes 
relative to colleges, and to the visitation 
of the regents of the university, in like 
manner with the other colleges of the 
state. 

Trustees, powers and duties of trus- 
tees. 

Sec. 1140. The members of the board of 
education of The City of New York, together 
with the president of the normal college 
shall be ex officio the trustees of said col- 
lege, and shall have and possess the powers 
conferred upon and be subject to the duties 
required of the trustees of colleges by the 
revised statutes. The president of the col- 
lege shall be a member of the executive 
committee of the said trustees for its care, 
government and management. 

Laws applicable to; participation in 
state literature and other funds. 

Sec. 1141. All acts of the legislature now 
la force with regard to the said normal col- 
lege, its control, management, support and 
affairs, not inconsistent with the provisions 
of this act, are hereby declared to be ap- 
plicable to said college. The Normal Col- 
lege of the City of New York shall be en- 
titled to participate in the distribution of 
the income of the literature, and other funds 
of the state in the same manner, and upon 
the same conditions as the other colleges 
of the state, and the regents of the univer- 
sity of the state of New York shall pay 
annually to the comptroller of The City of 
New York, as trustee for said college, the 
distributive share of the said funds to which 
the said Normal College of the City of New 
York shall by law be entitled, and which 
shall be applied and expended for library 
books for said college. 

Trustees to report annually the 
amount required to pay salaries, etc.; 
such amount to be raised by taxa- 
tion; board of aldermen may Increase 
amount named herein, A 

Sec. 1142. It shall be the duty of the 
trustees of said college annually on or be- 
fore the fifteenth day of October to report 
to the board of estimate and apportionment 
such sum not exceeding one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars In any one year, as 
they may require for the payment of salaries 
of the professors' and officers of the said 
college, for obtaining and furnishing scien- 
tific apparatus, books for the students and 
all cfther necessary supplies therefor, for re- 
pairing and altering the college buildings, 
and for the support, maintenance and gen- 
eral expenses of said college; and the said 
board of estimate and apportionment, and 
the board of aldermen of The City of New 
York are hereby authorized and directed, in 
each and every year to raise , and col- 
lect by tax on the estate, real and 
personal, liable to taxation in said 
city, such sum of money, not exceeding the 
amount aforesaid, as may be reported to 
them by said trustees, the amount so to be 
raised and collected to be in addition to the 
sums required for the purposes of common 
schools in The City of New York, under the 
act entitled “An act to amend, consolidate 
and reduce to one act the several acts of the 
state of New York relative to common schools 
of The City of New York,” passed July 
third, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, and 
the several acts amendatory thereto. Upon 
U.o rc \ n;irer.d; Loa c* the tr-s‘ s, ‘hj 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


board of estimate and apportionment and the 
board of aldermen may increase from time to 
time the amount annually to be raised in the 
tax levy for the maintenance of the normal 
college. 

Instruction to be furnished gratuitous- 
ly » degrees and diplomas. 

Sec. 1143. The said board of education, as 
trustees of said college, shall continue to 
furnish through the Normal College of the 
City of New York, the benefit of education 
gratuitously to girls who have been pupils 
in the common schools of The City of New 
York as constituted by this act, for a period 
of time to be regulated by the board of 
trustees of said college, and to all other girls 
who are actual residents of said city, and 
who are qualified to pass the required exam- 
ination for admission to said college; and 
the board of trustees, upon the recommenda- 
tion of the faculty of the said college, may 
grant the usual degrees and diplomas in the 
arts to such persons as shall have completed 
a full course of study in the said college. 
The said board of trustees shall give normal 
Instruction in manual training for the pur- 
pose of preparing teachers of manual train- 
ing for the common schools. 

Animal reports of trustees. 

Sec. 1144. The trustees of the Normal Col- 
lege of the City of New York shall make 
and transmit annually, on or before the first 
day of February in each year, to the board 
of aldermen and also to the secretary of 
the board of regents of the university of the 
state of New York, a report, dated on the 
last secular day of December next preceding, 
which report shall state the names and ages 
of all the pupils instructed in said college 
during the preceding year, and the time that 
each was so instructed, specifying which of 
them have completed a full course of study 
therein, and which have received degrees, 
medals and other special testimonials; a 
particular statement of the studies pursued 
by each pupil since the last preceding re- 
port, together with the books such student 
shall have studied, in whole or in part, and 
if in part, what portions; an account or es- 
timate of the library, philosophical and 
chemical apparatus and mathematical or 
other scientific instruments belonging to said 
college; the names of the instructors em- 
ployed in said college and the compensation 
paid to each; what amount of moneys the 
board of trustees received during the year for 
the purposes of said college, and from what 
source, specifying how much from each, and the 
particular manner and the specific purposes for 
which such moneys have been expended, and 
such other information in relation to educa- 
tion in the said college, and the measures of 
the board of trustees in the management 
thereof, as the board of education or the re- 
gents of the university of the state of New 
York may from time to time require. 

Money appropriated lor, to be expend- 
ed when required by trustees; con- 
tracts by trustees. 

Sec. 1145. The moneys apportioned to the 
board of education of said city of New York 
by the board of estimate and apportionment 
and board of aldermen, for the payment of 
the salaries of the professors and officers of 
said college, for obtaining and furnishing sci- 
entific apparatus, books for the students and 
all other necessary supplies therefor, for re- 
pairing and altering the college buildings, and 
for the support, maintenance aDd general ex- 
r <-? ?. id :-o l.-." s* a'l ' r : p - T r 1 r - 


said normal college when required by the 
trustees of the Normal College of the City of 
New York, with the same right, power ana 
authority as if the said college were under 
the control of the board of education of the 
City of New York. All contracts entered 
into or liabilities incurred by said trustees 
involving the expenditure of more than one 
thousand dollars, except agreements for the 
payment of salaries, shall be entered into 
and incurred in the same manner and sub- 
ject to the restrictions and limitations pro- 
vided as to other expenditures of public 
moneys as provided for in this act. 

TITLE 4. 

GENERAL, PROVISIONS. 

Religious sects anil dogmatic books 

excluded; Bible retained. 

Sec. 1151. No school shall be entitled to or 
receive any portion of the school moneys in 
which the religious doctrines or tenets of any 
particular Christian or other religious sect 
shall be taught, inculcated or practiced, or 
in which any book or books, containing com- 
positions favorable or prejudicial to the par- 
ticular doctrines or tenets of any particular 
Christian or other religious sect shall be 
used, or which shall teach the doctrines or 
tenets of any other religious sect, or which 
shall refuse to permit the visits and exami- 
nations provided for in this chapter. But 
nothing herein contained shall authorize the 
board of education or the sohool board of any 
borough to exclude the Holy Scriptures, with- 
out note or comment, or any selections there- 
from, from any of the schools provided for by 
this chapter; but it shall not be competent 
for the said board of education to decide what 
version, if any, of the Holy Scriptures, with- 
out note or comment, shall be used in any of 
the schools; provided that nothing herein 
contained shall be so construed as to violate 
the rights of conscience, as secured by the 
constitution of this state and of the United 
States. 

Certain private schools authorized to 

participate in common school fund. 

Sec. 1152. The school established and 
maintained by the Five Points House 
of Industry, in the City of New York, 
the school established and main- 
tained by the Ladies’ Home Missionary 
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
at the institution in Park street, near the 
place usually called the Five Points, in the 
said city, and the industrial schools estab- 
lished and maintained under the charge of 
the Children’s Aid Society, in The City of 
New York, shall participate through the 
bdard of education in the distribution of the 
common school fund in the same manner and 
degree as the common schools in The City 
of New York, and shall be subject to the 
same regulations and restrictions as are 
now by law imposed on the common schools 
of New York.— As amended by Laws of 1901, 
Chapter 714. 

To report as to moneys and attend- 
ance. 

Sec. 1153. The board of education shall 
require from the officers conducting schools 
by appointment of the board, and from the 
trustees, managers or directors of the cor- 
porate schools entitled to participate in the 
apportionment of school moneys, a report in 
all respects similar to that formerly required 
in The City of New York* as constituted 
prior to the passage of this act from the 

(-"-*• - ' ----- • - Irj -I..-, <1-1-, 


If* 


apportionment among the several schools, 
no share shall be allotted by the board to 
any school or society from which no suf- 
ficient annual report shall have been re- 
ceived, for the year ending on the last day 
cf June immediately preceding the appor- 
tionment. 

Certain additional private schools au- 
thorized to participate in school 

funds. 

Sec. 1154. The New York Orphan Asylum 
School, the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum 
School, the schools of the two half orphan 
asylums, the school of the Society for the 
Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, in the 
City of New York, the school for the Leake 
and Watts’ Orphans’ House, the school con- 
nected with the almshouse of said city, the 
school of the Association for the Benefit of 
Colored Orphans, the schools of the Ameri- 
can Female Guardian Society, the school es- 
tablished and maintained by the New York 
Juvenile Asylum, by the New York Infant 
Asylum, by the Nursery and Child’s Hos- 
pital, including the country branch thereof; 
the orphan asylums and industrial schools as 
existing in the city of Brooklyn at the time 
of the passage of this act, and the several 
schools and branches thereof, the schools 
organized under the act entitled “An act t® 
extend to the city and county of New York 
the provisions of the general act In rela* 
tion to the common schools, passed April 
eleventh, eighteen hundred and forty-two,” 
or an act to amend the same, passed April 
eighteen, eighteen hundred and forty-three, 
or an act entitled “An act more effectually 
to provide for common school education in 
the city and county of New York, passed 
May seventh, eighteen hundred and forty- 
four,” or any of the acts amending the same, 
and such schools as may be organized under 
the provisions of this chapter shall be sub- 
ject to the general supervision of the board 
of education, and shall be entitled, through 
the said board to participate in the appor- 
tionment of the school moneys, as provided 
for in this chapter, but they shall be under 
the immediate direction of their respective 
trustees, managers and directors, as herein 
provided. 

Accidental omission to report. 

Sec. 1155. Whenever an apportionment of 
the public money 6hall not be made to any 
school, in consequence of any accidental omis- 
sion to make any report required by law, or 
to comply with any other regulation or pro- 
vision of law, the board of education may, 
in its discretion, direct an apportionment co 
be made to such school, according to the 
equitable circumstances of the case, to be 
paid out of the public money on hand, or if 
the same shall have been distributed out of 
the public money to be received in a succeed- 
ing year. 

Trustees of such schools may convey 

to corporation nml become mcraeil. 

Sec. 1156. The trustees, managers and di- 
rectors of any of the corporate schools en- 
titled to participate in the apportionment of 
the school moneys may, at any time, convey 
their school houses and sites to the corpora- 
tion of The City of New York, and transfer 
any of their schools to the board of education, 
on the terms and in the manner to be agreed 
upon and prescribed by the board of educa- 
tion, so as either to merge the said schools 
in the public schools or adopt them as pub-, 
lie schools; and the same shall then be pub- 
lic sc'-rr’s r-.lV’t I lie rules. ’.u'ieo 


124 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


and liabilities, and enjoy the same rights as 
it they had been originally established as 
public schools. 

Nautical school to be established. 

Sec. 1157. The board of education is author- 
ized and directed to provide and maintain a 
nautical school in said city, for the education 
and training of pupils in the science and 
practice of navigation; to furnish accommo- 
dations for said school, and take all needful 
rules and regulations therefor, and for the 
number and compensation of instructors and 
others employed therein; to prescribe the 
government and discipline thereof, and the 
terms and conditions upon which pupils shall 
be received and instructed therein, and dis- 
charged therefrom, and provide in all things 
for the good management of said naufccal 
school. And said board shall have power to 
purchase the books, apparatus, stationery, 
and other things necessary or expedient to 
enable said school to be properly and success- 
fully conducted, and may cause the said school 
or the pupils, or part of the pupils, thereof 
to go on board vessels in the harbor of New 
York, and take cruises in or from said har- 
bor for the purpose of obtaining a practical 
knowledge in navigation and of the duties of 
mariners. And the said board are hereby au- 
thorized to apply to the United States gov- 
ernment for the requisite use of vessels and 
supplies for the purpose above mentioned. 

Nanticnl schools management of. 

Sec. 1158. The said board of education shall 
appoint annually at least three of their num- 
ber who shall, subject to the control, super- 
vision and approbation of the board, consti- 
tute an executive committee, for the care, 
government and management of such nauti- 
cal school, under rules and regulations so 
prescribed, and whose duty it shall be, among 
other things, to recommend the rules and 
regulations which they deem necessary and 
proper for such school. 

Chamber of Commerce to appoint com- 
mittee to serve as council. 

Sec. 1159. The chamber of commerce of 
New York is authorized to provide for and 
appoint a committee df its members to serve 
as a council of the nautical school, whose 
duty it shall be as far as may be, to advise 
and co-operate with the board of education 
in the establishment and management of such 
school, and from time to time to visit and 
examine the same, and to communicate in 
respect thereof, with the board of education, 
or such executive committee thereof, and to 
make reports to the chamber of commerce 
which may transmit to the state superin- 
tendent of public instruction such reports, 
or any thereof, or an abstract of the same, 
with such recommendations as may be deemed 
advisable. 

Expenses. 

Sec. 1160. After the establishment and or- 
ganization of the said school, the expenses 
thereof, and of carrying out the provisions 
of this chapter, shall be defrayed from the 
moneys raised by law for the support of com- 
mon schools in The City of New York. 

New York Institution for the Blind. 

Sec. 1161. The board of education is here- 
by authorized and required to distribute to 
the managers of the New York Institution 
for the Blind a ratable proportion of the 
said school fund to every blind pupil in said 
institution, without regard to age. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

DEPARTMENT OP HEALTH. 

Title 1. Powers and duties of the depart- 


ment, its officers and administration. 

Title 2. Marriages, births and deaths. 
Title 3. Duties of physicians and others. 
Title 4. Legal proceedings and punish- 
ment for disobedience of orders and ordi- 
nances. 


Title 5. Reimbursement of expenses. 
Title 6. Abatement by suit. 

Title 7. Lodging houses. 

Title 8. Pension fund. 


TITLE I. 


ORGANIZATION, ADMINISTRATION, AU- 
THORITY, DUTIES AND POWERS 
OP DEPARTMENT. 


Tbe board of health the head of the 

department of health. 

Sec. 1167. The head of the department of 
health shall be called the board of health. 
Said board shall consist of one commissioner 
to be called the commissioner of health, the 
police commissioner and the health officer of 
the port. The commissioner of health shall 
be appointed by the mayor, shall hold office 
as provided in chapter four of this act, and 
shall be the president of the board of health. 
The commissioner of health shall be the 
executive officer of the health department. 
The terms of office of the three officers called 
commissioners of health, except the presi- 
dent of the board of health, appointed pursu- 
ant to the provisions of the Greater New 
York Charter, shall cease and determine on 
the first day of January, nineteen hundred 
and two, and the said president shall there- 
upon become commissioner of health. 
Authority, duty and powers of the 

hoard of health. 

Sec. 1168. The authority, duty and powers 
of the department of health shall extend 
over The City of New York, and the waters 
adjacent thereto, within the jurisdiction of 
said city, and over the waters of the bay 
within the quarantine limits as established 
by law, but shall not be held to interfere 
with the powers and duties of the commis- 
sioners of quarantine or the health officer of 
the port. It shall be the duty of the depart- 1 
ment of health to make an annual report to 
the mayor of The City of New York, of all 
the operations of the department for the 
previous year. The mayor may at any time 
call for a fuller report, or for a report upon 
any portion of the work of said department, 
whenever he may deem it to be for the pub- 
lic good so to do. All the authority, duty 
and powers heretofore conferred or enjoined 
upon the health departments, boards of 
health, health and sanitary officers in any of 
the municipal and public corporations or 
parts thereof, in any of the territory now 
within or hereafter to become a part of The 
City of New York, as constituted by this 
act, and within the jurisdiction of said city, 
by chapter seventy-four of the laws of eigh- 
teen hundred and sixty-six, and the several 
acts amendatory thereof, and by any other 
subsequent laws of this state, and upon the 
several officers and members of said boards, 
by the laws constituting and appointing all 
such departments, boards of health, and sani- 
tary officers, and members of said boards by 
the laws constituting and appointing all such 
departments, boards of health and sani- 
tary officers,* and giving and granting to 
them, or any of them, duties and powers 
not inconsistent with the provisions of this 
act, are hereby conferred upon and vested in 
and enjoined upon, and shall hereafter be ex- 
clusively exercised in The City of New York 
•So in the original. 


by the department of health, and board of 
health, created by this act, and by the officers 
of said board of health and the said depart- 
ment of health, and the same are to be exer- 
cised in the manner specified in said chapter 
seventy-four of the laws of eighteen hundred 
and sixty-six, and the several acts amenda- 
tory thereof, and by any other subsequent 
laws of the state relative to health and sani- 
tary matters, and the prevention of pesti- 
lence and disease in said city of New York, 
or In any part thereof, and in conformity 
with the provisions of this act. 

Duty of board as to enforcement of 

laws; information. 

Sec. 1169. It shall be the duty of said board 
of health to aid the enforcement of, and so 
far as practicable, to enforce all laws of this 
state, applicable in said district, to the pre- 
servation of human life, or to the care, pro- 
motion, or protection of health; and said 
board may exercise the authority given by 
said laws to enable it to discharge the duty 
hereby imposed; and this section is intend- 
ed to Include all laws relative to cleanliness, 
and to the use or sale of poisonous, unwhole- 
some, deleterious or adulterated drugs, med- 
icines or food and the necessary sanitary 
supervision of the purity and wholesomeness 
of the water supply and the sources thereof 
for The City of New York. And said board 
is authorized to require reports and infor- 
mation at such times find of such facts, and 
generally of such nature and extent, relative 
to the safety of life and promotion of health 
as its by-laws or rules may provide, from all 
public dispensaries, hospitals, asylums, in- 
firmaries, prisons and schools, and from the 
managers, principals and officers thereof; and 
from all other public institutions, their offi- 
cers and managers, and from the proprietors, 
managers, lessees and occupants of all thea- 
ters and other places of public resort or 
amusement in said district; but such reports 
and information shall only be required con- 
cerning matters, or particulars, in respect of 
which, it may, in its opinion, need informa- 
tion, for the better discharge of its duties 
in said city of New York and every part 
thereof. It is hereby made the duty of the 
officers, institutions and persons so called on, 
or referred to, to promptly give such infor- 
mation and make such reports verbally or in 
writing as may be required by said board. 
The board of health shall use all reasonable 
means for ascertaining the existence and 
cause of disease dr peril to life or health, 
and for averting the same throughout said 
city and shall promptly cause all proper in- 
formation in possession of said board to be 
sent to the local health authorities of any 
city, village or town in this state which may 
request the same, and shall add thereto such 
useful suggestions as the experience of said 
board may supply. It shall be the duty of 
said board, so far as it may be able, without 
serious expense, to gather and preserve such 
information and facts relating to death, dis- 
ease and health from other parts of this state, 
but especially in said city, as may be useful 
In the discharge of its duties, and contribute 
to the promotion of health, or the security of 
life in the state of New York. It shall be the 
duty of said board to give all information that 
may be reasonably requested concerning any 
threatened danger to the public health, to the 
health officer of the port of New York, and to 
the commissioners of quarantine of said port; 
who shall give the like information to said 
board; and said board, and said officers and 
quarantine commissioners shall, so far as le- 
gal and practicable, co-operate together t» 
prevent the spread of disease, and for the pro- 
tection of life and the promotion of health, 
within the sphere of their respective duties. 


125 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 

* 


Said board may grant bills of health to mas- 
ters of vessels certifying to the condition of 
the city in respect of health. 

Hospitals. 

Sec. 1170. Said board may remove or cause 
to be removed to proper place, to be by it 
designated any person sick with any contag- 
ious, pestilential or infectious disease; shall 
have exclusive charge and control of the hos- 
pitals for the treatment of such cases; and 
shall have power to provide and pay for the 
use of proper places to which to remove such 
persons as well as to designate such places. 
The board of health is authorized and em- 
powered to erect, establish, maintain and 
furnish, upon North Brothers island and In 
such other places within The City of New 
York as are now used for such purposes, 
buildings and hospitals for the care and treat- 
ment of persons sick with contagious dis- 
eases, and shall have the exclusive charge 
and control of t.hd said buildings and hospi- 
tals. It shall have power to take possession 
of, and occupy for temporary hospitals, any 
building or buildings in the said city, during 
the prevalence of an epidemic, if in the judg- 
ment of the board the same may be required, 
and shall pay for private property so taken 
a just compensation for the same. Said board 
may cause proper care and attendance to be 
given to persons sick or removed, when it 
shall be made to appear to the said board 
that any such person is so poor as to be un- 
able to procure for himself such care and at- 
tendance, or that the public health requires 
special medical care and attendance. The 
board of health may send to such place as it 
may direct, all aliens and other persons in 
the city, not residents thereof, who shall be 
sick of any infectious, pestilential or conta- 
gious disease. The expense of the support 
of such aliens or other persons shall be de- 
frayed the corporation of The City of New 
York, unless such aliens or other persons 
shall be entitled to support from the commis- 
sioners of emigration. No person shall re- 
move any person sick with infectious, con- 
tagious or pestilential disease from any ves- 
sel or other place in said city without a 
written permit from the board of health. 

Repairs of ltnildinn*. 

Sec. 1171. The powers of the board of 
health shall be construed to include the or- 
dering and enforcing in the same manner as 
other orders are provided to be enforced, the 
repairs of buildings, houses and other struc- 
tures; the regulation and control of all pub- 
lic markets (so far as relates to the cleanli- 
ness. ventilation and drainage thereof, and 
to the prevention of the sale or offering for 
sale, of improper articles therein); the re- 
moval of any obstruction, matter or thing in 
or upon the public streets, sidewalks or 
places which shall be ,in its opinion 
liable to lead to results dangerous 
to life or health; the prevention 
of accidents by which life or health may be 
endangered; and generally the abating of all 
nuisances. It is hereby expressly declared 
that the said board of health shall have and 
possess full and complete power with refer- 
ence to the ventilation, drainage and cleanli- 
ness of the stands or stalls in or around all 
markets, and said board shall have in said 
city all common law rights to abate any nui- 
sance without suit, which can or does in this 
state belong to any person whatever. 

Sanitary Code. 

Sec. 1172. The sanitary code which shall be 
in force in The City of New York the first 
day of January, nineteen hundred and two, 
and all existing provisions of law fixing pen- 
alties for violations of said code are hereby 


declared to be binding and in force in The 
City of New York, and shall continue to be 
so binding and In force, except as the same 
may, from time to time, be revised, altered, 
amended or annulled as herein provided. 
Provided, however, that so much of this 
section as declares the sanitary code bind- 
ing and in force In The City of New York 
shall not be construed as limiting the stor- 
age of fertilizers or the keeping and slaugh- 
tering of fowls, cattle- and other domestic 
animals upon premises used for - farming in 
unimproved sections of the city, or as for- 
bidding the ordinary use of country roads in 
driving such fowls, cattle and other domestic 
animals. Said board of health is hereby au- 
thorized and empowered, from time to time, 
to add to and to alter, amend or annul any 
part of the said sanitary code, and may 
therein publish additional provisions for the 
security of life and health in The City of 
New York, and confer additional powers on 
the department of health, not inconsistent 
with the constitution or laws of this state, 
and may provide for the enforcement of the 
said sanitary code by such fines, penalties, 
forfeitures, or imprisonment as may by or- 
dinance be prescribed. The board of health 
may embrace In said sanitary code all mat- 
ters and subjects to which, and so far as, the 
power and authority of said department 
of health extends, not limiting their 
application to the subject of health only. 
Any violation of said sanitary code shall be 
treated and punished as a misdemeanor. 
Pecuniary penalties for violation of said 
sanitary code may be recovered in a civil 
action in the name of the department of 
health of The City of New York, before any 
justice or tribunal in said city, having jur- 
isdiction of civil actions; and all such jus- 
tices and tribunals shall take jurisdiction 
of such action. Copies of the record of the 
proceedings of said board of health of its 
rules, regulations, ordinances, by-laws and 
books and papers constituting part of its 
archives, and the sanitary code, now or here- 
after in force in said city, when authenti- 
cated by its secretary or secretary pro tem- 
pore, shall be presumptive evidence, and the 
authentication taken as presumptively cor- 
rect in any court of justice, or judicial pro- 
ceeding, when they may be relevant to the 
point or matter in controversy, of the facts, 
statements, and recitals, therein contained. 
Judicial notice of seal and presump- 
tions. 

Sec. 1173. The actions, proceedings, au- 
thority, and orders of said board of health 
shall at all times be regarded as in their 
nature judicial, and be treated as prima 
facie just and legal. All meetings of said 
board shall in every suit and proceeding be 
taken to have been duly called and regularly 
held, and all orders and proceedings to have 
been duly authorized, unless the contrary be 
proved. All courts shall take judicial no- 
tice of the seal of said board and of the 
signature of its secretary and chief clerk. 

Seal. 

Sec. 1174. The board of health may design 
and adopt a seal, and use the^ same in the 
authentication of its orders and proceedings, 
commissioning its officers and agents, and 
otherwise, as the rules of the board may 
provide. Said board may enact such by- 
laws, rules and regulations as it may deem 
advisable, in harmony with the provisions 
and purposes of this chapter, and not in- 
consistent with the constitution or laws of 
this state, for the regulation of the action 
of said board, its officers and agents, in the 
discharge of its and their duties, and from 


time to time may alter, annul or amend 
the same. 

Publication of reports anil statistics. 

Sec. 1175. The board of health may es- 
tablish as it shall deem wise, and to pro- 
mote the public good and public service, 
reasonable regulations as to the publicity 
of any of the papers, files, reports, records 
and proceedings of the department of health; 
and may publish such information as may, 
in its opinion, be useful, concerning births, 
deaths, marriages, sickness, and the general 
sanitary conditions of said city, or any mat- 
ter, place or thing therein. 

* 

Proceedings relative to dangerous 
buildings, vessel*, places and things. 

Sec. 1176. Whenever any building, erec- 
tion, excavation, premises, business pursuit, 
matter or thing, or the sewerage, drainage 
or ventilation thereof, in said city, shall, in 
the opinion of said board, whether as a 
whole or in any particular, be in a con- 
dition or in effect dangerous to life or health, 
said board may take and file among its rec- 
ords what it shall regard as sufficient proof 
to authorize its declaration that the same, 
to the extent it may specify, is a public 
nuisance, or dangerous to life or health; and 
said board may thereupon enter in its rec- 
ords the same as a nuisance, and order the 
same to be removed, abated, suspended, al- 
tered, or otherwise improved or purified, as 
said order shall specify; and if any party 
served with such order (or intended to be 
according to this chapter) shall, before its 
execution is commenced, or within three day3 
after such service or attempted service, ap- 
ply to said board, or the president thereof, 
to have said order or its execution stayed 
or modified, it shall then be the duty of 
said board to temporarily suspend or modify 
said order or the execution thereof, save in 
cases of imminent danger from impending 
pestilence, when said board may exercise 
extraordinary powers, as herein elsewhere 
specified, and to give such party or parties 
together, as the case in the opinion of the 
board may require, a reasonable and fair 
opportunity to be heard before said board 
and to present facts and proofs, according to 
the rules or directions of said board, against 
said declaration and the execution of said 
order, or in favor of its modification, ac- 
cording to the regulations of the board; and 
the board shall enter in its minutes such 
facts and proofs as it may receive and its 
proceedings on such hearing, and any other 
proof it may take; and thereafter may 
rescind, modify or reaffirm its said declara- 
tion and order, and require execution of said 
original, or of a new or modified order to 
be made in such form and effect as it may 
finally determine. Said board may order or 
cause any excavation, erection, vehicle, ves- 
sel, w'ater craft, room, building, place, sewer, 
pipe, passage, premises, ground, matter or 
thing in said city or adjacent wavers, re- 
garded by said board as in a condition dan- 
gerous or detrimental to life or health, to 
be purified, cleansed, disinfected, altered or 
improved; and may also order any sub- 
stance, matter or thing being or left in any 
street, alley, water, excavation, building, 
erection, place or grounds (whether such 
place, where the same may be is public 
or private) and which said board may 
regard as dangerous or detrimental to life 
or health, to be speedily removed to some 
proper place; and may designate or provide 
a place to which the same shall be removed, 
when no such adequate or proper place, in 


126 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF >'EW YORK. 


the judgment of said board, is already pro- 
vided. If said order is not complied with, 
or ae far complied with as said board of 
health may regard as reasonable, within five 
days after such service or attempted service, 
or within any shorter time, which, in case of 
pestilence, the board of health may have 
designated, or is not thereafter speedily and 
fully executed, then any such order may be 
executed ae herein elsewhere provided in re- 
gard to any of the orders of said board. And 
if personal service of any aforesaid order 
can not be made under this section by reason 
of absence from said district, or inability to 
find one or more of the owners, occupants, 
lessees or tenants of the subject matter to 
which said order relates, or one or more of 
the persons whose duty it was to have done 
what is therein required to be done, as the 
case may render just and proper in the 
opinion of said board; to be shown by the 
official certificates of the officer having such 
order to serve, then service may be made 
through the mail, or by a copy left at the 
residence or place of business of the person 
sought to be served, with a person of suita- 
ble age and discretion, and the expenses at- 
tending the execution of any and all such or- 
ders respectively shall be a several and joint 
personal charge against each of the owners 
or part owners, and each of the lessees and 
occupants of the building, business, place, 
property, matter or thing to which said order 
relates, and in respect of which said ex- 
penses were incurred; and also against every 
person or body who was by law or contract 
bound to do that in relation to such business, 
place, street, property, matter or thing, which 
said order requires, and said expenses shall 
also be a lien on all rent, compensation due 
or to grow due, for the use of any place, 
room, building, premises, matter or thing to 
which said order relates, and in respect of 
which said expenses were incurred; and also, 
a lien on all compensation due or to grow 
due for the cleaning of any street, place, 
ground or thing, or for the cleansing or re- 
moval of any matter, thing or place, the 
failure to do which by the party bound so to 
do, or the doing of the same in whole or in 
part by order of said board, was the cause 
or occasion of any such order or expense. 
Said board of health, its assignee or the 
party w'ho hae, under- Its order or that of the 
police board, acting thereunder, incurred 
said expense, or has rendered service for 
which payment is due, and as the rules of 
said board of health may provide, may in- 
stitute and maintain a suit against any one 
herein declared liable for expenses as afore- 
said, or against any person, firm or cor- 
poration owing, or who may owe, such rent 
or compensation, and may recover the ex- 
penses so incurred under any order afore- 
said. 

Extraordinary expenditures. 

Sec. 1177. The department of health may 
use, in compensation of special inspectors, 
physicians and nurses, and for supplies and 
contingencies, such sum, not exceeding in the 
aggregate eighty thousand dollars, in excess 
of the annual appropriation, as may be at 
any time appropriated by the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment for the prevention 
of danger from contagious or infectious dis- 
eases found to exist in said city, or for the 
care of persons exposed to danger from con- 
tagious or infectious diseases. 

Declaration o£ imminent peril. 

Sec. 1178. In the presence of great and im- 
minent peril to the public health by reason 
Of impending pestilence, it shall be the duty 


Of the board of health, having first taken and 
filed among its records what it shall regard 
as sufficient proof to authorize its declara- 
tion of such peril, and having duly entered 
the same in its records, to take such meas- 
ures, to do and order, and cause to be done, 
such acts and make such expenditures (be- 
yond those duly estimated for or provided) 
for the preservation of the public health 
(though not herein elsewhere or otherwise au- 
thorized) as it may in good faith declare the 
public safety and health to demand, and tho 
mayor shall in writing approve. But the ex- 
ercise of this extraordinary power shall also, 
so far as it involves such excessive expendi- 
tures, require the written consent of at least 
two members of the board of health, and the 
approval as aforesaid of the mayor. And 
such peril shall not be deemed to exist ex- 
cept when, and for such period of time, as 
the board of health and mayor shall declare. 

Bureaus. 

Sec. 1179. There shall be two bureaus in 
the department of health. The chief officer 
of one bureau shall be called the “sanitary 
superintendent,” who, at the time of his ap- 
pointment, shall have been, for at least ten 
years, a practicing physician, and for three 
years a resident of The City of New York, 
and he shall be the chief executive officer cf 
said department. The chief officer of the 
second bureau shall be called the "registrar 
of records,” and in said bureau shall be re- 
corded, without fees, every birth, marriage, 
and death, and all inquisitions of coroners, 
which shall occur, or to be taken within The 
City of New York. But in cases of inquests, 
where the jury shall find that the death was 
caused by negligence or malicious injury, only 
a copy of the record need be filed in said 
bureau. 

Offices and expenses. 

Sec. 1180. The board of health may fit up and 
furnish such offices and such branch offices in 
each and every borough provided for the de- 
partment of health in accordance with law, as 
the convenience of the department, its officers, 
agents, and employes, and the prudent and 
proper discharge of the duties of the depart- 
ment may require; and may, subject to the 
other provisions of this act, make such other 
incidental and additional expenditures, ha\- 
ing due regard to economy, as the purposes 
and provisions of this chapter, and the dan- 
gers to life and public health may justify or 
require; and may provide that any failure of 
any officer, agent, or employe of the depart- 
ment to duly fulfill his engagements or dis- 
charge his duty shall cause a forfeiture of 
the whole, or any less portion of the salary 
or compensation of such officer, agent or em- 
ploye, as the rules or practice of the depart- 
ment may provide. 

Borongh offices to be maintained. 

Sec. 1181. The board of health shall estab- 
lish and maintain in the boroughs of Man- 
hattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, aud 
Richmond, offices wherein the business aud 
duties of the department of health shall be 
performed and discharged under its rules; 
regulation and control. To this end the 
board of health shall appoint assistant sani- 
tary superintendents, and assistant regis- 
trars of records, one of each of such officers 
to be assigned to each of the five borough 
offices above mentioned, and so many of the 
other officers, clerks, inspectors and subor- 
dinates allowed, pursuant to this chapter, as 
may be necessary to conduct and transact 
the business of the health department, in each 
of the said boroughs. In such borough offices, 
the board of health shall preserve the records, 
files, reports and papers belonging and per- 
taining to the boroughs in which the office is 


located. In the general office of the health 
department in the borough of Manhattan, 
shall also be preserved and kept, both for 
record and the use of the board of health, 
the archives of the department of health, 
and ail the records, books, reports, files and 
papers belonging and pertaining to the gen- 
eral administration of the health department, 
and business and transactions of the board 
of health, as well as those which belong to, 
and have special reference to, the business 
and transactions, and the discharge of the 
duties and powers of the health department 
in the borough of Manhattan. The board of 
health may likewise establish such other ad- 
ditional offices as It shall deem necessary fo. 
the proper discharge of the duties and pow- 
ers of the health department in the several 
boroughs, with siuch force as may be essen- 
tial thereto throughout the city as consti- 
tuted by this act, but shall always maintain 
its chief office in the borough of Manhattan. 

Delegation of powers. 

Sec. 1182. The board of health and commis- 
sioner of health may from time to timo dele- 
gate any portion of its or his power to the 
sanitary superintendent or an assist- 
ant sanitary superintendent, to be ex- 
ercised by such delegates from the time and 
in the manner, and to the extent specified 
in such delegation in writing. Provided, 
however, that this section shall not be con- 
strued in restraint of the general po^er of 
the board of health to discharge Its duties 
through any and all of its appointees. Tho 
department of health shall have a secretary, 
who shall subject to the direction of the 
board of health, keep and authenticate the 
acts, records, papers and proceedings of the 
department of health, preserve its books and 
papers, conduct its correspondence, and aid 
generally in /accomplishing the purposes of 
this chapter. The board of health mSy des- 
ignate a clerk to be the chief clerk of tho 
department, and a clerk in each of the offices 
of the five boroughs above mentioned, in 
which offices are established, to be an as- 
sistant chief clerk, who may perform such 
duties of the secretary as shall be assigned 
to him; .and papers certified by such chief 
clerk or by an assistant chief clerk shall 
be of the same effect as evidence and other- 
wise as if certified by the secretary. 

Dnty of sanitary superintendents. 

Sec. 1183. It shall be the duty of the san- 
itary superintendent and the assistant sani- 
tary superintendents, as each may be direct- 
ed, to execute, or cause to be executed, the 
orders of said department of health and gen- 
erally, according to instructions, to exercise 
a practical supervision in respect to the 
inspectors, agents, and persons other than 
the secretary, and health commissioner and 
as to the members of the police force, who 
may exercise any authority under this chap- 
ter; and said officers shall devote their serv- 
ices to the aforesaid purposes, as the board 
of health may, from time to £ime direct. 
Each such superintendent shall make re- 
ports weekly, or ofrener, if directed by the 
board of health, in writing, stating generally 
his own action and that of his subordinates, 
and the condition of the public health in 
said city, or any portion thereof, and any 
causes endangering life or health which have 
ccme to his knowledge during that period. 

Reports of, and inspection. 

Sec. 1184. The sanitary superintendent, the 
assistant sanitary superintendents, the sani- 
tary inspectors and the officers of said de- 
partment may all visit sick persons, who 
shall be reported to the department of health 
as sick of any contagious, pestilential, or 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


127 


infectious disease and report to the de- 
partment of health, in writing, his or their 
opinion of their sickness. He, or they, shall 
visit and inspect all vessels coming to the 
wharves, landing places, or shores of said 
city, or within three hundred yards thereof, 
which are suspected of having on board any 
infectious or contagious disease, or likely 
to communicate the disease to the inhab- 
itants of said city, and all stores and places 
within said city, which are suspected to 
contain putrid or unsound provisions or other 
articles likely to communicate disease to the 
inhabitants, and make and sign a report in 
writing, stating the veseel, stores, places, 
p.nd articles so inspected by him or them, 
and the nature, state, and situation thereof, 
and his or their opinion in relation there- 
to, as to the probability of disease being com- 
municated by or from the same, and file such 
report in the chief office of the department 
of health. 

Sanitary inspectors. 

Sec. 1185. The board of health shall ap- 
point and commission at least fifty sanitary 
inspectors, and shall have power to appoint 
twenty additional sanitary inspectors, if it 
deems that number necessary, and from time 
to time to prescribe the duties of each 
of said inspectors, and the place of their 
performance, and of all other persons exer- 
cising any authority under said department, 
except as herein specially provided; but thir- 
ty of such inspectors shall be physicians 
of skill and of practical professional ex- 
perience in said city. The additional sani- 
tary inspectors heretofore duly appointed 
and commissioned, either in New York city, 
or in the city of Brooklyn, may be included 
among the sanitary inspectors mentioned in 
this section, and may continue to act as 
such without reappointment, but nothing 
herein contained shall curtail any of the 
powers vested in the department of health 
by this act, and the number of sanitary in- 
spectors for whom provision is made in 
this section shall be exclusive of the spe- 
cial inspectors for whom provision is made 
in section eleven hundred and eighty- 
six and elsewhere in this act. All of 
the said inspectors shall have such prac- 
tical knowledge of scientific or sanitary mat- 
ters as qualify them for the duties of their 
office. Each of such inspectors shall once 
in each week, make a written report to said 
department, stating what duties he has per- 
formed, and where he has performed them, 
and also such facts as have come to his 
knowledge connected with the purposes of 
this chapter as are by him deemed worthy 
of the attention of said department or such 
as its regulations may require of him; which 
reports, with the other reports herein else- 
where mentioned, shall be filed among the 
records of the said department. 

Sanitary engineering; service. 

Sec. 1186. The board of health may, from 
time to time employ a suitable person or 
persons to render sanitary engineering serv- 
ice, and to make or supervise practical and 
scientific sanitary investigations and exam- 
inations in the city requiring engineering 
skill, and to prepare plans and reports rela- 
tive thereto. 

Badges. 

Sec. 1187. The board of health may provide 
a badge of metal with a suitable inscription 
thereon, and direct and require it to be 
worn, in a position to be designated, by any 
person or officer under the authority of said 
department, at such times and under such 
circumstances as the rules and by-laws of 
said department shall direct. 


Examinations and surveys. 

_ Sec. 1188. The members of the board of 
health, the health commissioners, the sani- 
tary superintendent, the assistant sanitary 
superintendents, and any of the sanitary in- 
spectors and such other officer or person 
as may, at any time, be, by said board of 
health authorized, may, without fee or hind- 
rance, enter, examine and survey all 
grounds, erections, vehicles, structures, 
apartments, buildings, and every part there- 
of, and places in the city, including vessels 
of all kinds in the waters, and all cellars, 
sewers, passages and excavations of every 
sort, and inspect the safety and sanitary 
condition and make plans, drawings and 
descriptions thereof, according to the order 
or regulations of said department. Said de- 
partment may make and publish a report 
of the sanitary condition, and the result of 
the inspection of any place, matter or thing 
in the city, so inspected, or otherwise, as 
aforesaid, so far as, in the opinion of the 
board of health, such publication may be use- 
ful. 

Proofs and affidavits. 

Sec. 1189. Proofs, affidavits and examina- 
tions as to any matter under this chapter may 
be taken by or before the board of health or 
other person, as the board of health shall au- 
thorize; and the commissioner of health, the 
secretary, the sanitary superintendent, assis- 
tant sanitary superintendents and any mem- 
ber of said department shall, severally, have 
authority to administer oaths in such mat- 
ters, and any person guilty of willfully an- 
swering or testifying falsely therein shall in- 
cur all the pains and penalties of perjury. 

Suits and service of papers. 

Sec. 1192. Said board of health may sue and 
be sued in and by the proper name of “The 
Department of Health of The City of New 
York,” and not in or by the name of the 
members of said board, or any of them; and 
service of all process in suits and proceed- 
ings against or affecting said board, and other 
papers may be made upon the president of 
said board, or upon its secretary, and not 
otherwise; except that, according to usual 
practice in other suits, papers in suit to 
which said board of health is a party may be 
served on the corporation counsel or such as- 
sistant as may be assigned by him to the 
health department. 

Attorney. 

Sec. 1193. The corporation counsel shall as- 
sign such assistant counsel as may be need- 
ful to the department of health, as provided 
in chapter seven of this act. 

Salaries. 

Sec. 1194. The annual salaries to be paid to 
persons herein named, and appointed to the 
several specified positions shall, from and 
after their entrance upon their duties, be as 
follows, and such salaries shall be in full for 
all services rendered by them to the city in 
any capacity whatever: To the commissioner 
of health, seven thousand five hundred dol- 
lars; to the sanitary superintendent, five thou-, 
sand dollars; to the secretary, five thousand 
dollars; to the assistant sanitary superinten- 
dents, each three thousand five hundred dol- 
lars; to the registrar of records, four thou- 
sand dollars; to the assistant registrars or 
records, each three thousand dollars; to the 
chief clerk of the department of health, three 
thousand dollars. 

Id.S and no fees. 

Sec. 1195. No salary or compensation shall 
be paid to, or fees demanded by, or expenses 
ordered to be incurred by any officer, de- 
partment or agent, or in respect to any 


service, expenditure, or employment under 
the authority of any health law, ordinance, 
regulation, or appointment in said city, un- 
less such salary, expenditure, employment, 
fees or expense shall be authorized by the 
department of health; and any officer or 
agent, employe or servant of the health de- 
partment demanding or receiving compensa- 
tion, fees or expenses In violation of this 
section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, 
punishable by imprisonment for a term of 
not more than one year and by a fine of not 
more than five hundred dollars, and the for- 
feiture of his office or position. No munici- 
pal body, or other authority, shall create any 
office or employ any officer or agent, or 
incur any expense under any health laws 
or ordinances, or in respect of any matter 
concerning which said health department is 
by this chapter given control or jurisdiction. 

No personal liability. 

Sec. 1196. No member, officer, or agents of 
said department of health, and no person or 
persons other than the department of health 
or the city itself shall be sued or held to 
liability, for any act done or omitted by 
either person aforesaid, in good faith, and 
with ordinary discretion, on behalf of or 
under said department, or pursuant to its 
regulations, ordinances, or health laws. And 
any person whose property may have been 
unjustly or illegally destroyed or injured, 
pursuant to any order, regulation, or ordi- 
nance, or action of said department of health 
or its officers, for which no personal liability 
may exist, as aforesaid, may maintain a 
proper action against the city for the recov- 
ery of the proper compensation or damage. 
Every such suit must be brought within six 
months after the cause of action arose, and 
the recovery shall be limited to the damages 
suffered. 

Orders of the board. 

Sec. 1197. The board of health, if it shall 
consider the public health or interests so 
to require, may execute orders through its 
own officers or agents, and means to be en- 
gaged by the board of health. Whatever ex- 
penses said board of health may lawfully and 
properly incur in the execution of any or- 
der, resolution or judgment aforesaid, or in 
executing, or in connection with its own 
orders, made in good faith, or in and about 
the discharge, in good faith, of its duties, or 
in satisfying any liability or judgment it 
may have in good faith incurred or suffered 
by reason of its acts, done in good faith, as 
aforesaid, or in satisfying any claim against 
its officers or subordinates, arising from 
their acts in the discharge, in good faith, of 
their respective duties, shall, so far as es- 
tablished, be paid out of the funO or other 
moneys of the department of health. 

Execution may be eompeiiea. 

Sec. 1198. All orders duly made by any 
of the departments of health, or boards of 
health, or health and sanitary authorities 
or officers, to which said department suc- 
ceeded, and by their terms or necessary legal 
effect, to be executed in The City of New 
York, may be executed, and the execution 
thereof compelled, and the execution of such 
of thepi as are partly executed may be com- 
pelled by the department of health; and the 
said orders may be severally rescinded or 
modified by said department, with like effect, 
as could have been done by the department, 
board of health, or sanitary authority exist- 
ing at the time the said orders were sev- 
erally made. The said department may dis- 
charge all liens upon real estate in The City 
of New York, created by aay board of health 
or sanitary authorities above mentioned, or 


128 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


created In proceedings instituted by the 
metropolitan board of health, or the depart- 
ment of health, which succeeded thereto, in 
the same manner and for the same causes 
that, by laws existing January first, eight- 
een hundred and seventy, they could be dis- 
charged by the metropolitan board of health. 

Htglit of inspection. 

Sec. 1199. It is hereby made the duty of 
all departments, officers, and agents, having 
the control, charge or custody of any public 
structure, work, ground, or erection, or of 
any plan, description, outline, drawing or 
charts thereof, or relating thereto, made, 
kept, or controlled under any public author- 
ity, to permit and facilitate the examination 
and inspection, and the making of copies 
of the same by any officer or person, there- 
to, by said department of health authorized. 

Complaint book. 

Sec. 1200. The board of health shall cause 
to be kept a general complaint book, or sev- 
eral such books, in which shall be entered 
any complaint of a sanitary nature with the 
name and residence of the complainant, the 
names of the person or persons complained 
of, and the date of the entry of the com- 
plaint, and suggestions of any appropriate 
remedy and said books shall be open to all 
reasonable public examination, regulated in 
all respects as said board may deem proper 
and for the public service, and the board of 
health shall cause the facts in regard to such 
complaints to be investigated, and the ap- 
propriate remedy to be applied. 

Duties of owners, lessees and occu- 
pants. 

Sec. 1201. It is hereby declared to be the 
duty of every owner and part owner and 
person interested, and of every lessee, 
tenant, and occupant of, or in any place, 
water, ground, room, stall, apartment, 
building, erection, vessel, vehicle, matter, 
and thing in said city, and of every per- 
son conducting or interested in , business 
therein or thereat, and of every person who 
has undertaken to clean any place, ground or 
street therein, and of every person, public 
officer and department having charge of any 
ground, place, building or erection therein, 
to keep, place and preserve the same and 
every part, and the sewerage, draining and 
ventilation thereof in such condition and to 
conduct the same in such manner that it shall 
not be a nuisance or be dangerous or pre- 
judicial to life or health. 

Police department assistance. 

Sec. 1202. It shall be the duty of the police 
department and of its officers and men, as 
said department shall direct, to promptly ad- 
vise the department of health of all threat- 
ening dangers to human life or health, and 
of all matters thought to demand its atten- 
tion, and to regularly report to said board 
of health all Violations of its rules, and of 
sanitary ordinances, and of the health laws, 
and all useful sanitary information. And 
said last-named departments shall, as far as 
practicable and appropriate, co-operate for 
the promotion of the public health and the 
safety of human life in the city. And it 
shall be the duty of the police department 
and the police commissioner, by and through 
its proper officers, sgents and men, to faith- 
fully, and, at the proper time, enforce and 
execute the sanitary rules and regulations 
and the orders of said board of health, made 
pursuant to the powers of said board of 
health, upon the same being received in 
writing and duly authenticated, as said board 
•f health may, direct. And said police com- 


I missioner is authorized to employ appropri- 
ate persons and means, and to make the 
necessary and appropriate expenditures, for 
the execution and enforcement of said rules, 
orders and regulations; and such expendi- 
tures, so far as the same may not be re- 
funded or compensated by the means herein 
elsewhere provided, shall be paid as the oth- 
er expenses of said board of health are paid. 
And in and about the execution of any order 
of the board of health or of the police com- 
missioner, made pursuant thereto, police of- 
ficers and policemen shall have as ample 
power and authority as when obeying any or- 
der of or law applicable to the police com- 
missioner, but for their conduct shall be re- 
sponsible to the police commissioner and not 
to the board of health. 

Sanitary company of police. 

Sec. 1202a. The board of health shall make 
requisition upon the police commissioner for 
the detail of not more than fifty suitable of- 
ficers and men of at least five years’ serv- 
ice in the police force, who shall be selected 
for their peculiar fitness, for the enforcement 
of the provisions of the sanitary code. These 
officers and men shall be detailed to such 
service by the police commissioner and the 
department of health shall pay to the police 
department monthly, the amount of the pay 
of the officers and men so detailed, who 
shall belong to the sanitary company of the 
police and shall report to the board of health. 
The board of health may report back to the 
police commissioner for punishment, any 
member of said company guilty of any breach 
of orders or discipline, or of neglecting his 
duty, and thereupon the -police commissioner 
shall detail another officer or man in his 
place, and the discipline of the said mem- 
bers of the sanitary company shall be in the 
jurisdiction of the police department; but at 
any time the board of health may object to 
the efficiency of any member of said sani- 
tary company and thereupon another officer 
or man shall be detailed in hie place. 

Coroner's returns. 

Sec. 1203. The department of health may, 
from time to time, fix and define the time of 
making, and the form of returns and reports 
to be made to said department by the cor- 
oners of The City of New York, in all cases 
of post-mortem inquests, or viewing of dead 
bodies held by them or any of them; and the 
said coroners are hereby required to con- 
form to the directions of eaid department in 
the premises, and it shall be the duty of 
every coroner at once, and before holding an 
inquest, upon being called upon to hold an 
inquest as aforesaid, or notified thereof, to 
immediately transmit and cause to be de- 
livered to the secretary of said department 
of health, written notice of the fact of such 
call, in which shall be stated every particu- 
lar then known to said coroner as to said 
call, the body, the place where it is and the 
reported cause of death. If at any time said 
department, or the sanitary superintendent, 
shall deem the protection of the public health 
to demand, it may, 60 soon as the coroner’s 
jury or physician may have viewed the dead 
body, and an autopsy thereof shall have been 
made, provided the coroner deems the same 
necessary, order the immediate burial of any 
(lead body, or if he or it deems that the public 
health demands an immediate removal of said 
body from the place of death to another 
place for inquest, may likewise, at any 
time, order said removal, and 6hall have 
power to cause said orders to be obeyed and 
executed. 


Removal of dead bodies. 

See. 1204. It shall be the duty of the de- 
partment of health to grant a permit for 
the removal of the .body of any deceased 
person from the city, which has not been 
buried, upon receiving a certificate of the 
death of said person, made in accordance 
with its rules. It may grant a permit for 
the removal of the remains of any person 
interred within the city to a place without 
the same, on the application of a relative or 
friend of such person, when there shall ap- 
pear to be no just objection to the same. 
Removal of night soil and offal. 

Sec. 1205. The board of health shall 
have full and exclusive power and authority 
over the removal of night soil, and in 
the removal of dead animals, offal, night soil, 
blood, bones, tainted or impure meats, and 
other refuse matter from said city. It is 
hereby charged with the duty of causing the 
removal of the same daily, from the thickly 
populated districts, or as often as may be 
necessary elsewhere, and of keeping the said 
city clean from all matter of nuisance of 
a similar kind. The department, bureau, or 
city officer of authority or authorities who 
shall from time to time have the manage- 
ment and control of the public docks, piers, 
and slips in said city, may, with the consent 
of the commissioners of the sinking fund, 
designate and set apart for the use of the 
department of health of said city, suitable 
and sufficient slips, docks, piers and berths 
in slips, located as the said department of 
health may require, and such as should be 
convenient and necessary for its use in ex- 
ecuting the duty hereby imposed upon said 
department of health, excepting the slips, 
docks and piers on the East river set apart 
for the use ot canal boats. 

Id.; contracts for. 

Sec 1206. The board of health is author- 
ized to make contracts with any responsible 
person or persons for the removal of said 
offal, dead animals, night soil, and other 
refuse matter from The City of New York, 
and to require and receive security in such 
form and amount as the said board may ap- 
prove, for the faithful performance by the 
person or persons aforesaid, to whom such 
contracts may by the said board of health, 
be in its discretion, awarded, of all and each 
of the provisions of such contracts on his or 
their part. The place or places of reception 
and deposit of, and to which such offal, dead 
animals, night soil and other refuse matter 
may be conveyed-, may, from time to time, 
be designated, and may be ordered changed 
by the board of health. 

Putrid cargoes may lie destroyed. 

Sec. 1210. The board of health, when it 
shall judge it necessary, may cause any 
cargo, or part of cargo, or any matter, or 
anything within the city that may be putrid 
or otherwise dangerous to the public health, 
to be destroyed or removed; such removal, 
when ordered, shall be to the place of de- 
posit of offal, dead animals, and refuse mat- 
ter, or such other place as the board of health 
shall direct; such removal or destruction 
shall be made at the expense of the owner 
or owners of the property so removed or de- 
stroyed, and the same may be recovered from 
such owner or owners, in an action at law, 
by said board of health. 

Paving and draining yards and cel- 
lars; filling sunken lots; drainage 
and maps. 

Sec. 1215. No order for the paving, filling, 
concreting, draining or regulating of any 
yards or-cellars within the city shall be made 
except upon reasonable notice to the owner 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


129 


or agent thereof. Whenever in the opinion 
of the board of health the protection 
of the public health requires the drain- 
age of any lands in the city, by means other 
than sewers, the said board may make an 
order describing the location of such lands, 
and directing the proper drainage thereof, 
and construction of drains therefor, by the 
president of the borough w r here such drain- 
age is so required. The board of health shall 
thereupon cause a map to be made, whereon 
shall be shown the location of such proposed 
drains, and the lands required for the con- 
struction thereof. Such order shall be en- 
tered at length in the records of such de- 
partment of health, and such map shall be 
filed in said department; a copy thereof shall 
be filed in the office of the registrar or county 
clerk of the county in which the lands are 
situated. The board of health shall cause 
another copy of said map, together with a 
copy of such order, to be delivered to the 
president of the borough, where such drain- 
age is required, who shall, by such order be 
required to construct such drains, and the 
said president, with whom a copy of the said 
map and order shall be so filed, shall imme- 
diately thereafter have the power, and is 
hereby directed to make and adopt proper 
and suitable plans for the construction of 
such drains. — As amended by Laws of 1903, 
Chapter 510. 

Acquisition of rigrlit* In lnnri*. 

Sec. 1216. It shall be the duty of such bor- 
ough president, upon the receipt of such 
map and order, and immediately after he 
has made and adopted suitable plans for 
such drains, through the corporation counsel 
of said city, to take immediate and proper 
proceedings for the acquirement of a right 
of way over, under, or through the lands 
shown upon said map to be necessary for 
such drains, and it shall be the duty of such 
corporation counsel immediately to take such 
proceedings and conduct them to a speedy 
determination. 

Id.; proceeding:* therein. 

Sec. 1217. The right of way over, under or 
through the lands so required for such drains 
shall be taken and acquired in the manner 
required by law for acquiring title to lands 
in said city to be used as public streets. Pro- 
vided, however, that the time or times pro- 
vided in such law for the giving or publica- 
tion of any notice shall for the purposes 
of this section, be reduced one-half, and 
the time for the sitting of the commissioners 
of estimate and assessment to hear ob- 
jections to their report is. for the pur- 
poses of this section, hereby made two 
days In the place of' ten days. Any maps, 
plans or surveys, that may be required for 
the use of the commissioners of estimate 
and assessment to be appointed in such pro- 
ceeding, shall be furnished by the borough 
president charged with the construction of 
the drains and shall be prepared and made by 
surveyors in the regular and stated employ- 
ment of such borough president; neither the 
expense of such surveys, nor any other ex- 
penses other than the fees of the commission- 
ers of estimate and assessment, attending the 
proceeding, and their necessary disburse- 
ments for clerical services in carrying out 
the provisions of this section, which clerical 
expenses shall not exceed the sum of two 
hundred and fifty dollars, and also for ad- 
vertising, printing or posting any notices re- 
quired by law, and for any other necessary 
Incidental expense a sum, not exceeding one 
hundred dollars, shall be included in the as- 
sessment that may be made by such commis- 
sioner of estimate and assessment. The cor- 
poration counsel shall not be entitled to any 
compensation for services to be rendered by 
him io such proceeding other than his stated 


salary. The commissioners shall each be en- 
titled to receive the following rates as com- 
pensation for their services in full: Where 
the drain to be constructed is five hundred 
feet or under in length, the sum of twenty- 
five dollars; where the drain exceeds five 
hundred feet in length, twenty-five dollars, 
and in addition thereto five cents per foot for 
each running foot of drain in excess of five 
hundred feet, but the compensation of eacn 
commissioner shall in no case exceed two 
hundred and fifty dollars. 

Id.; confirmation of report of commis- 
sioners, construction and taxation. 

Sec. 1218. Upon the confirmation of the 
report of the commissioners of estimate and 
assessment by the court, the president of the 
borough within which such lands are lo- 
cated shall have the power, and he is hereby 
directed to immediately make and construct 
said drains. The necessary cost of such 
drains, together with necessary expenses of 
levying the assessment therefor, shall be 
levied, assessed and collected, as provided by 
section one hundred and seventy-nine of this 
act. 

Measures to prevent the spread of dis- 
ease. 

Sec. 1219. It shall be the duty or the board 
of health: 

1. To cause any avenue, street, alley or 
other passage whatever to be fenced up or 
otherwise inclosed if it shall deem the public 
safety requires it, and to adopt suitable meas- 
ures for preventing all persons from going to 
any part of the city so inclosed. 

2. To forbid all communication with the 
house or family infeSted with any contagious, 
infectious or pestilential disease except by 
means of physicians, nurses or messengers to 
carry the necessary advice, medicines and 
provisions to the afflicted. 

3. To adopt such means for prevent- 
ing all communication between any part of 
the city infected with a disease of a pesti- 
lential, infectious or contagious character 
and all other parts of the city, as shall be 
prompt and effectual. 

Id.; proclamation. 

Sec. 1220. The board of health may issue 
a proclamation declaring any place where 
there shall be reason to believe a pestilential, 
contagious or infectious disease actually ex- 
ists, to be an infected place within the 
meaning of the health laws of this state. 
Such proclamation shall fix the period when 
it shall cease to have effect; but such period, 
if the said board shall judge the public 
health to require it, may, from time to time, 
be extended by the board of health, and no- 
tice of such extension shall be published in 
one or more of the newspapers of this city. 
The board of health may in its discretion 
prohibit or regulate the internal intercourse 
by land or water between The City of New 
York and such infected place; and may di- 
rect that all persons who shall come into 
the city contrary to its prohibition or reg- 
ulations, shall be apprehended and conveyed 
to the vessel or place whence they last came; 
or, if sick, that they be conveyed to such 
place as the said board shall direct. After 
such proclamation shall have been issued, 
all vessels arriving in the port of New 
York from such infected place shall be sub- 
ject to a quarantine of at least thirty days 
or until the period when such proclamation 
shall cease to have effect as provided by 
the last preceding section, and shall, together 
with their officers, crews, passengers, and 
cargoes, be subject to all the provisions, 
regulations and penalties in relation to ves- 
sels subject to quarantine. 


Vessels removed. 

Sec. 1221. The board of health shall also 
possess and may exercise the following pow- 
ers: 

1. By order to direct any vessel lying at 
a place within three hundrdd yards of any 
wharf, landing place or shore of said city, 
and from which said board shall deem It 
probable that any infectious or contagious 
disease may be brought into said city, or 
communicated to the inhabitants thereof, to 
be removed to the distance of at least throe 
hundred yards from any wharf, landing place 
or shore of said city, within six hours after 
a copy of such order, certified by the secre- 
tary of said department, shall be delivered 
to the person or persons having command of 
such vessel, or to the master, owner or con- 
signee thereof; and every such person or 
persons, master, owner or consignee to whom 
such copy of such order shall be delivered 
shall forthwith comply with the same. 

2. By order to direct to be removed to a 
place to be designated by the board of health, 
all things within the city, which, in its 
opinion, shall be infected in any manner 
likely to communicate disease to the inhab- 
itants. 

Violation of order*, punishment for. 

Sec. 1222. Every person who shall violate, 
or neglect, or refuse to comply with any 
provision contained in any of the last three 
sections, or in the orders made by the board 
of health, in pursuance thereof, shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on con- 
viction thereof, shall be punched by a fine 
not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, 
or imprisonment not exceeding six months, 
or both; and all such fines when collected 
shall be paid to the comptroller. Any viola- 
tion of the sanitary code shall be treated 
and punished as a misdemeanor, and the 
offender shall also be liable to pay a penalty 
of fifty dollars, to be recovered in a civil 
action in the name of the department of 
health of The City of New York. 

Service of order#. 

Sec. 1224. Service of any order of said 
hoard of health shall be deemed sufficient, 
if made upon a principal person interested 
in or upon a principal officer charged with 
a duty in respect of the business, property, 
matter, or thing, or the nuisance or abuse 
to which said order relates; or upon a per- 
son, officer, or department, or one of the 
department, who may be most interested in 
or affected by its execution. If said order 
relate to any building or the drainage, sew- 
erage, cleaning, purification, or ventilation 
thereof, or of any lot or ground on or in 
which such building stands, used for, or in- 
tended to be rented as the residence or lodg- 
ing place of several persons, or as a tene- 
ment-house or lodging house, service of such 
order on the agent of any person or persons 
for the renting of such building, lot, or 
ground, or for the collecting of the rent 
thereof, or of the parts thereof to which said 
order may relate, shall be of the same effect 
and validity as due service made upon the 
principal of such agent, and upon the owners, 
lessees, tenants, occupants of such build- 
ings, or parts thereof, or of the subject- 
matter to which such order relates. 

Vaccination. 

Sec. 1225. For the purpose of more ef- 
fectually preventing the spread of smallpox 
by the thorough and systematic vaccination 
of all unvaccinated persons, and for the relief 
of persons suffering from diphtheria and oth- 
er infectious diseases residing in said city, 
the board of health is hereby empowered to 
continue or organize a corps of vaccinator* 


130 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


and of physicians, within and subject to 
the control of the bureau of sanitary in- 
spection, to appoint the necessary officers, 
keep suitable records, collect and preserve 
pure vaccine lymph or virus, and produce 
diphtheria antitoxine and other antitoxines, 
and add to the sanitary code such additional 
provisions as will most effectually secure 
the end in view. Said board of health may 
take measures, and supply agents and offer 
inducements and facilities for general and 
gratuitous vaccination, disinfection, and for 
the use of diphtheria antitoxine, and other 
antitoxines, and may afford relief to and 
among the poor of said city as in its opinion 
the protection of the public health may re- 
quire. 

Sale of lymph and antitoxine. 

Sec. 1226. Whenever the amount of vac- 
cine lymph, or virus collected by the 
said corps, or of diphtheria antitox- 
ine, and other antitoxines produced, 
shall exceed the amount required in 
the proper performance of its duties, 
the said board of health may authorize the 
sale of such surplus lymph or virus, and 
diphtheria antitoxine, and other antitoxines 
at reasonable rates, to be fixed by the board 
of health. The avails of such lymph or virus, 
and diphtheria antitoxine, and other anti- 
toxines, shall be accounted for and paid to 
the chamberlain, and shall be set apart and 
constitute distinct funds, to be known re- 
spectively as “the fund for gratuitous vac- 
cination,” and “the antitoxine fund,” and 
they shall be subject to the requisition of 
the board of health for the purposes named 
in the preceding section. 

Extension of proclamation period. 

Soc. 1228. Whenever it shall appear to the 
board of health that any of the provisions 
of this title, limited in their operations to a 
certain period of the year, or designated 
periods of time, ought to be extended, the 
said board of health shall issue its proclama- 
tion extending such provisions to such a 
time as shall be determined on, and such pro- 
visions shall thereupon be extended accord- 
ingly and with the like effect as if the 
periods mentioned in such proclamation, had 
been originally herein enacted. If it shall 
appear to the board of health while such 
proclamation is still in force, that the neces- 
sity of extending the period therein named 
has ceased, the board of health, by a new 
proclamation declaring that fact, may revoke 
the proclamation issued pursuant to this sec- 
tion, which shall then cease to have effect. 

Definitions. 

Sec. 1229. The word nuisance, as used iu 
this act, shall be held to embrace public nui- 
sance, as known at common law, or in equity 
jurisprudence; and it is further enacted that 
whatever is dangerous to human life or 
detrimental to health; whatever building or 
erection, or part or cellar thereof, is over- 
crowded with occupants, or is not provided 
with adequate ingress and egress to and from 
the same, or the apartments thereof, or is 
not sufficiently supported, ventilated, sew- 
ered, drained, cleaned or lighted, in refer- 
ence to their or its intended or actual use; 
and whatever renders the air, or human food 
or drink, unwholesome, are also, severally in 
contemplation of this act, nuisances; and all 
such nuisances are hereby declared illegal; 
and each and all persons and corporations 
who created or contributed thereto, or who 
may support, continue or maintain or retain 
them, or any of them, shall be jointly and 


severally liable for, or toward, the expense 
of the abatement and remedying of the same; 
but as between themselves, any such persons 
and corporations, may enforce contribution or 
collect expenses, according to any legal or 
equitable relations existing between them; 
but nothing herein contained shall annul or 
defeat any common law liability or responsi- 
bility in respect of nuisances. Whenever 
the words “place, matter, or thing,” or either 
two of said words, are used in this act, or 
in titles one, four and five of this chapter, 
they shall, unless the sense plainly requires 
a different construction, be construed to in- 
clude whatever is embraced in the enumera- 
tion with which they are connected. 

TITLE 2. 

MARRIAGES, BIRTHS AXD DEATHS, 

Persons solemnising; marriages to keep 

n registry. 

Sec. 1236. It shall be the duty of the cler- 
gymen, magistrates and other persons who 
perform the marriage ceremony in The City of 
New York to keep a registry of the marriages 
celebrated by them, which shall contain, as 
near as the same can be ascertained, the 
name and surname of the parties married; 
the residence, age and condition of each; 
whether single or widowed. 

Births to be reported. 

Sec. 1237. It shall be the duty of the par- 
ents of any child born in said city (and if 
there be no parent alive ^hat has made such 
report, then of the next of kin of such child 
born), and of every person present at such 
birth, within ten days after such birth, to re- 
port to the department of health, in writing, 
so far as known, the date, borough and 
street number of said birth, and the sex ana 
color of such child born, and the names, resi- 
dence, birthplace and age of the parents, the 
occupation of the father and the maiden name 
of the mother. It shall also be the duty of 
physicians and professional midwives to keep 
a registry of the several births in which they 
have assisted professionally, which shall con- 
tain, as near as the same can be ascertained 
the time of such birth, name, sex and color 
of the child, the names, residence, birthplace 
and age of the parents, occupation of the 
father and maiden name of the mother, and 
to report the same within ten days to the 
department of health. — As amended by Laws 
of 1903, Chapter 510. 

Deaths to he reported. 

Sec. 1238. It shall be the duty of the next 
of kin of any person deceased, and of each 
person being with such deceased, person at 
his or her death, to report, in w'riting, to the 
department of health, within five days after 
such death, the age, color, nativity, last occu- 
pation and cause of death of such deceased 
person, aud the borough and street, the place 
of such person's death and last residence. 
Physicians who nave attended deceased per- 
sons in their last illness shall, in the certifi- 
cate of the decease of such persons, specify 
as near as the same can be ascertained, the 
name and surname, age, occupation, term of 
residence in said city, place of nativity, con- 
dition of life; whether single, married, widow 
or widower; color, last place of residence and 
the cause of death of such deceased persons, 
and the coroners of the city, in such cases 
as an inquest, may have been held, shall in 
their certificates, conform to the requirements 
of this section. — As amended by Laws of 1903, 
Chapter 510. 


Penalty for failure to report mar- 
riages and births to the department 
of health. 

Sec. 1239. For every omission of any person 
to make and keep the registry of marriages 
and births required by the preceding sections 
and for every omission to report a writ- 
ten copy of the same to said department of 
health within ten days after any birth or 
marriage provided to be registered, and for 
every omission to make the report of any 
death, birth or marriage, the person guilty 
of such omission shall be guilty of a misde- 
meanor - and, in addition thereto, the offend- 
er shall also be liable to pay a fine of one 
hundred dollars, to be recovered in the name 
of the department of health of The City of 
New York, before any justice or tribunal 
in said city having jurisdiction of civil ac- 
tions. But no person shall be liable for 
such fine, or subject to arrest and imprison- 
ment for not making the report herein re- 
quired, if such report has been made by any 
other person, or if an excuse is presented 
to tbe commissioner of health for such omis- 
sion which the said commissioner shall de- 
cide to be sufficient, in which event the said 
commissioner of health is hereby empowered 
to excuse the said omission. 

Record of births, marriages and 
deaths. 

Sec. 1240. The department of health shall 
keep a record of the births, marriages and 
deaths reported to it; the births shall be 
numbered and recorded in the order in which 
they are received by it; and the record of 
births shall state the place and date of birth, 
the name, sex and color of the child, the 
names, residence, birthplace and age of the 
parents, occupation of father and maiden 
name of mother, as fully as they have 
been received, and the time when the 
record was made. The marriages shall be 
numbered and recorded in the order in which 
they are received by the department; and 
the record thereof shall state the 
date of marriage, name, residence, and offi- 
cial station, if any, of the persons, by whom 
married, the names and surnames of the 
parties, age, the color, residence, birthplace, 
number of marriage, and condition of each; 
whether single or widowed, father's name 
and mother’s maiden name, and maiden 
name of the bride, if a widow, and the time 
when the record was made. The deaths shall 
be likewise numbered and recorded; and the 
record thereof shall state, as far as the same 
is reported, the date of decease, name and sur- 
name, condition, whether single, married or 
widowed, age, place of birth, place of death, 
occupation, names and birthplace of the par- 
ents; disease, cause of death, color, and last 
place of residence of such deceased person, 
and the time when the record was made. Said 
department shall perform all the duties of this 
section imposed, as a part of its regular 
duties, and no fees shall be demanded or 
received by reason thereof.— As amegded by 
Laws of 1903, Chapter 510. 

Registration of births not previously 
recorded. 

Sec. 1241. The births of the children of 
actual residents of The City of New York, 
which may have occurred during the tempor- 
ary absence of the parents of such children 
from The City of New York, and the births 
of children which failed to be recorded 
through the neglect of the physician or 
other medical attendant present at such 
birth, may be recorded in the bureau of 
records of the health department of said city, 
in a special book, to be kept for such pur- 
pose, upon the application in such behalf 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


131 


by the parents or guardians of such children. 
Such application shall be made to the com- 
missioner of health, and shall be accom- 
panied by a certificate of the physician or 
midwife attending professionally at such 
birth, and personally cognizant thereof, to- 
gether with the affidavit of at least two 
citizens, certifying to their knowledge of the 
facts, and that the physician or midwife mak- 
ing such certificate of birth is a reputable 
person in good standing in the community 
in which he or she may reside. No change 
or alteration shall, at any time, be made in 
any of the records of the said bureau of 
records in said city, without proof satis- 
factory to and upon the approval of the said 
commissioner of health. Transcripts of any 
record in said bureau of records may be 
given. In the discretion of the department of 
health, to a parent or the next of kin of any 
person authorized to apply for the same, but 
no transcripts of false or fraudulent returns 
made to the said bureau, nor of the entries 
thereof, shall be given; and they shall be 
canceled upon due proof of the facts to the 
department of health. Transcripts of these 
records when required shall be on such forms 
as the commissioner of health may prescribe, 
and for them the usual fees for copies of 
records may be received. 

TITLE 3. 

DUTIES OF PHYSICIANS AND OTHERS. 
Report of pestilential. Infectious and 

contagions diseases! deaths. 

Sec. 1247. It shall be the duty of each and 
every practicing physician in The City of New 
York: 

1. Whenever required by the department of 
health to report to said department, at such 
tijnes, in such forms and in reference to 
such diseases as said department may pre- 
scribe, the number of persons attacked with 
any pestilential, contagious or infectious 
disease attended by such physician for the 
twenty-four hours next preceding, stating 
the name of such patient, and the name and 
place where he shall then be; and the num- 
ber of persons attended by such physician, 
who shall have died in said city, during the 
twenty-four hours next preceding such re- 
port, of any such pestilential, contagious or 
infectious disease. 

2. To report, in writing, to the said depart- 
ment every patient he shall have laboring 
under any such pestilential, contagious, or 
infectious disease, and within twenty-four 
hours after he shall- ascertain or suspect 
the nature of the disease. 

3. To report to the said department when 
required by it the death of any of his 
patients who shall have died of disease with- 
in twenty-four hours thereafter, and to state 
in such report the specific name and type 
of such disease. 

Affidavit may be required. 

Sec. 1248. The department of health may 
require of any physician not less than three 
hours after service of a demand thereof upon 
him, an affidavit, stating therein whether 
he has or has not any patient, who, in hie 
opinion shall then be sick of such a pesti- 
lential, contagious or infectious disease, and 
if he has any such patient, to state in such 
affidavit his or her name and the house or 
place in said city where he or she shall then 
be, and the nature or name of such disease, 
to the best of his knowledge and belief. 

Penalty for failing; to report. 

Sec. 1249. Every practicing physician who 
shall refuse or neglect to perform the duties 
enjoined on him by the foregoing section shall 


be considered guilty of a misdemeanor and 
shall also forfeit for each offense the sum 
of two hundred and fifty dollars, to be sued 
for and recovered by the department of 
health. 

Boarding' and lodging house keepers 

may be required to report. 

Sec. 1250. Every person keeping a board- 
ing or lodging house in the city, shall, when- 
ever required by the department of health, 
report, in writing, to the department the 
name of every person who shall be sick in his 
house within twelve hours after each case 
of sickness shall have occurred. 

Masters, ete., of vessels to report. 

Sec. 1251. Every master, owner or con- 
signee of a vessel lying at a wharf or in the 
harbor of The City of New York shall make 
a like report, and within the game period, of 
the name of every sick person on board of 
such vessel; and no persqn shall be removed 
therefrom without a written permit for that 
purpose from the department of health. 

TITLE 4. 

LEGAL, PROCEEDINGS AND PUNISH- 
MENT FOR DISOBEDIENCE OF 
ORDERS AND ORDINANCES. 

Order for examination before jnstiee 

of supreme court. 

Sec. 1257. Any justice of the supreme court 
of the first or second department, or who is 
holding court or chambers therein, upon the 
written application of the commissioner of 
health, may issue his order by him sub- 
scribed, for the examination without unrea- 
sonable delay by or before such justice of 
any person or persons, and the production 
of books or papers or the inspection and tak- 
ing of copies of the whole or parts thereof, 
at a time and place within said city, 
and in said order to be named, 
provided it shall appear to the satis- 
faction of said justice or court that any mat- 
ter or point affecting life or health is in- 
volved; and it shall be the duty of such 
justice to take or superintend such examina- 
tion, which shall be under oath, and shall 
be signed by the party or parties examined 
and be certified by said justice, and with any 
copies of books or papers, to be delivered 
to said health department for the use of said 
department. And such examination, and any 
proceeding connected therewith, or under 
said order, may wholly or in part be had, 
conducted or continued by or before any 
other of said justices, as well as that one 
who made said order; and in and about the 
same, every such justice shall have as full 
power and authority to punish for con- 
tempt, and enforce obedience to the said or 
other order or direction respecting the 
matter aforesaid (or that of any other 
judge) as any such justiee of the su- 
preme court may now have, or shall 
possess, to enforce obedience or punish con- 
tempt in any case or matter whatever. Such 
application shall name or describe the per- 
son or persons whose examination is sought, 
and so far as possible the books or papers 
desired to be inspected, and the matters or 
points affecting life or health as to which 
the commissioner of health requests the ex- 
amination to take place, and the justice shall 
on the proceedings, decide what questions 
are pertinent and allowable in respect there- 
to, and shall require the same to be properly 
answered; but no answer of any person so 
examined shall be used in any criminal pro- 
ceeding. Service of any order of any such 


justice may be made, and the same proved 
in the same manner as the service of either 
an injunction or of a subpena. And it shall 
be the duty of said justice to facilitate the 
early determination of the aforesaid pro- 
ceedings. 

Appearance and examination of wit- 
nesses. 

Sec. 1258. Upon the application of any 
party in interest in any matter pending ex- 
amination before said department of health, 
by affidavit, stating the grounds of such ap- 
plication, to any judge of a court of record, 
and asking that any person or persons there- 
in named shall appear before said department 
of health, or any person taking or about to 
take such examination, at some time or 
times and place to be stated in the said affi- 
davit, it shall be the duty of such Judge, If 
he shall discover reasonable cause so to do, 
to issue his order requiring such person or 
persons named to appear and submit to such 
examination as, and to the extent, such 
order may state, at the time and place to 
be in said order named; and such order, 
signed by such judge, may be served, and 
shall in all respects be obeyed as a subpena 
duly issued; and a refusal to submit to the 
proper examination may be punished by such 
judge or by any judge of such court as a con- 
tempt of court, upon the facts as to such 
refusal being brought before any such judge 
by affidavit. 

The health department ns party plain- 
tiff and defendant. 

Sec. 1259. In all actions and proceedings 
heretofore commenced and now pending, 
against either of the cities of New York, 
Brooklyn or Long Island City or the 
town authorities and public officers in 
Kings, Richmond counties and the part 
of Queens county, now to form a part 
of The City of New York, or against 
the department of health, board of health 
or sanitary officers in any part of said 
territory, in which any action, order, regula- 
tion, ordinance or proceeding of any of the 
health departments, boards of health or sani- 
tary officers thereof, is called in question or 
made the eubject of the action or prbceeding, 
the department of health of The City of New 
York shall havb the right to appear, answer 
and take part; and in all such actions and 
proceedings hereafter commenced the said 
health department shall be a necessary par- 
ty, and have the right to appear and to take 
part therein. The said department may in- 
stitute and maintain all suits and proceedings 
which are reasonable, necessary and proper, 
to carry out the provisions of the laws under 
which the said department acts, and may sue 
and be sued by the proper name of the de- 
partment of health of The City of New York. 

Injunctions xvlieu not to he granted 

against department. 

Sec. 1260. No preliminary injunction shall 
be granted against the department of health, 
or its officers, except by the supreme court, 
at a special term thereof after service of at 
least five days' notice of a motion for such 
injunction, together with copies of the paper* 
on which the motion for such injunction Is 
to be made. Whenever said department shall 
seek any provisional remedy, or shall prose- 
cute any appeal, it shall not be necessary be- 
fore obtaining or prosecuting the same to 
give any undertaking. 

Proceedings presumed legal. 

Sec. 1261. In all judicial proceedings the 
actions, proceedings, authority, and ordeij 
of said department shall at all times be re- 


13 ? 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


garded as in their nature judicial, and be 
treated as prima facie just and legal. In 
any suit, the right of said department or the 
police department to make any order, or 
cause the execution thereof, shall be pre- 
sumed. 

Violation of department orders, ac- 
tions for. 

Gee. 1262. Whoever shall violate any provis- 
ions of this chapter, or any order of said 
department made under the authority of the 
same, or by any law or ordinance therein re- 
ferred to, or shall obstruct or interfere with 
any person in the execution of any order of 
said department, or any order of the police 
department in pursuance of execution of the 
orders of the department of health, or wil- 
fully omit to obey any such order, shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable to be 
Indicted and punished for such offense; and 
In cases where it was made a misdemeanor 
to do or omit any act or thing, when any 
power or authority hereby conferred upon 
the board of health or department of health, 
was exercised by any other board of health, 
or officers, the omission or doing of such, 
or a corresponding act or thing, which 
this chapter requires, or contemplates 
to be done or forbids, shall in like 
manner be a misdemeanor, and the 
offender shall be liable to indictment 
and punishment for the same. A wilful 
omission or refusal of any individual, cor- 
poration, or body to conform to any regula- 
tion of said department duly made for the 
protection of life or the care, promotion, or 
preservation of health, or the carrying out of 
the purposes of this chapter, pursuant to its 
power or authority, shall be a misdemeanor, 
and the person or officers guilty thereof shall 
be liable to indictment and punishment as for 
a misdemeanor. All prosecutions and proceed- 
ings against any person for misdemeanorunder 
this chapter may be had or tried before any 
Judge or tribunal having jurisdiction of any 
misdemeanor within said city. Any person, 
corporation, or body which may have wilfully 
done or omitted any act or thing which is, 
in this chapter, or by any law, or ordinance, 
or the sanitary code referred to, declared to 
be, or to subject the party guilty thereof to 
punishment for a misdemeanor, shall in addi- 
tion thereto, be subject to a penalty of two 
hundred and fifty dollars, to be sued for and 
recovered by said department in any civil 
tribunal in said city. Where in any case 
the minimum penalty for a refusal to obey, 
or for a violation of any order, regulation, or 
ordinance of said department of health, or 
any law, is not fixed, the amount recovered 
in such case shall not be less than twenty dol- 
lars, and the judge or justice who presided at 
a trial where such penalty is claimed shall, 
on said trial, in writing, fix the amount, not 
contrary to said provisions, of said penalty 
to be recovered, and shall direct such amount 
so fixed to be, and it shall be included in the 
judgment. Any such suits may be against 
one or more, or all of those who participate 
in the act, refusals, or omissions complained 
of, and the recovery may be against one or 
more of those joined in the action as the jus- 
tice of the court shall direct. The provisions 
of this section as to the jurisdiction of tri- 
bunals, parties and costs shall apply to all 
suits by said department or by the police de- 
partment under this chapter. All processes 
and papers usual or necessary in the com- 
mencement and prosecution of actions, or for 
the collection of money in suits or proceed- 
ings under this chapter, on execution, may 
be served by any policeman, and in and about 
•uch matters the policeman so engaged shall 
fc»ye all the powers of marshals, and no fees 


shall be charged by any court, magistrate, or 
clerk for the issue of any paper or process, 
or for the performance of any duty in suits 
under this chapter. Any civil action brought 
under or by authority of this chapter may be 
brought in any court in said city, having jur- 
isdiction in any civil action to an amount as 
large as is demanded in such action; and if 
judgment be rendered for the plaintiff in any 
amount, costs of the court in which action 
is brought shall also be recovered, without 
reference to the amount of the recovery, 
provided payment was demanded before suit 
brought, and the defendant or defendants in 
the action against whom the recovery is had, 
did not, as the code of civil procedure au- 
thorizes, offer to pay an amount equal to the 
recovery against him or them, except 
that in cases where the recovery shall be less 
than fifty dollars, the amount of costs shall 
be ten dollars; and in case no recovery is had, 
the plaintiffs shall not pay costs unless the 
judge or justice, at the conclusion of the trial, 
shall certify in writing that there was not 
reasonable cause for bringing the action, and 
in such case the costs shall not exceed ten 
dollars, unless the amount claimed exceeded 
fifty dollars. No action shall abate, or right 
of action already accrued be abolished, by rea- 
son of the expiration, repeal or amendment of 
an ordinance, code or sanitary ordinances, or 
regulation of said' department; nor shall any 
court lose jurisdiction of any action by rea- 
son of a plea that title to real estate is in- 
volved, provided the defendant is sought by 
the pleadings to be charged in said action on 
any of the grounds mentioned in this chap- 
ter, other than by virtue of ownership of such 
real estate. In respect to all proofs and pro- 
ceedings by said department, or its agents or 
officers, under this chapter, papers filed shall 
be deemed entered upon or in the minutes of 
the department. 

Arrests for -violation of rnles. 

Sec. 1263. The board of health having first 
entered on the minutes of department of 
health, or filed in its records, what it may 
regard as adequate proof of a violation of re- 
sistance by any persons in said city, of any 
law, or ordinance, the authority relating to 
which is given to said department, or of any 
order made by said board or said department, 
may order, by warrant, under its seal and at- 
tested by the signature of its secretary, and 
indicating, as far as conveniently practicable, 
the time, place and nature of the offense com- 
mitted, the arrest of any such person, and 
such order of arrest shall be of the same ef- 
fect and shall be executed as a warrant from 
a justice or judge, duly issued; and the party 
arrested shall be taken before a magistrate, 
and thereupon and thereafter shall, by all 
officers, be treated as being, and have the 
rights and liability of a party under arrest 
by order of the proper officer or tribunal, for 
a misdemeanor, of the nature indicated iu 
said order of arrest. 

Id.; l>y member of police force or offi- 
cer of department of health. 

Sec. 1264. Any member of the police force, 
and every inspector or officer of said depart- 
ment of health, as the regulations of either 
of said departments may respectively provide 
relative to its own subordinates, may arrest 
any person who shall, in view of such member 
or officer, violate, or do, or be engaged in do- 
ing or committing in said city, any act < r 
thing forbidden by this chapter, or by any 
law or ordinance, the authority conferred by 
which is given to said department of health, 
or who shall, in such presence, resist or be 
engaged in resisting the enforcement of any 
of the orders of said department or of the 
police department pursuant thereto. And any, 


person so arrested shall be thereafter treat- 
ed and disposed of as any other person duly 
arrested for a misdemeanor. 

I<1.; upon complaint of magistrate, 

trials, fines, etc. 

Sec. 1265. Upon the complaint of any citi- 
zen of the city, against any person for vio- 
lation of any rule, sanitary regulation, ordi- 
nance, or order, made to any magistrate hav- 
ing jurisdiction in criminal cases, such magis- 
trate shall order the arrest of any person 
against whom such complaint is made, a3 in 
any other case of a criminal offense and by 
his warrant may require any policeman or 
constable to make such arrest, and may, after 
such arrest, proceed summarily to try such 
person for such alleged offense; but no such 
trial shall be had on any arrest made in tho 
city without sufficient notice thereof being 
first given to the department of health. And 
upon an application in behalf of said depart- 
ment made before the trial is commenced, the 
trial of such person, together with the papers, 
shall be remitted to the court of special ses- 
sions, upon which court jurisdiction to try 
such persons is hereby conferred; but the 
right of any person to elect to be tried be- 
fore a Jury, as it may now exist, is not af- 
fected by anything herein contained. If such 
person shall, upon such trial, be found guilty, 
he or she may be punished in the same man- 
ner as is provided for the punishment of per- 
sons found guilty of a misdemeanor. Reports 
of all such trials, and of fines imposed for 
violations of this chapter, or the sanitary 
code, shall be made monthly to said depart- 
ment, by the justices before whom trials are 
had. But nothing in this section contained 
shall be construed as in any manner limiting 
any powers, penalty and punishment in this 
chapter elsewhere conferred. 

False returns and deceptive reports, 

Iiow punished. 

Sec. 1266. If any person shall knowingly 
make to said department of health or any 
officer thereof, any false, return, statement or 
report relative to any birth, death or mar- 
riage, or other matter concerning which a 
report or return may be legally required of, 
or should be made by, such person; or if any 
member, inspector or officer, or any agent 
of said department of health shall knowing- 
ly make to said department of health any 
false or deceptive report or statement in con- 
nection with his duties, or shall accept or re- 
ceive, or authorize or encourage, or knowing- 
ly allow any other person to accept or re- 
ceive any bribe or other compensation as a 
condition of or an inducement for not faith- 
fully discovering and fully reporting, or oth- 
erwise acting, according to his duty in any 
respect, then any and every such person shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punish- 
able by imprisonment of not more than ono 
year or by a fine of not more than five hun- 
dred dollars and, if an officer or employe of 
the department, by the forfeiture of his office, 
rank or position, and shall be liable to be 
for such crime indicted, tried and punished 
according to law, and shall in addition, forfeit 
all compensation due or to grow due from 
said department. 

False personation as an officer of de- 
partment, penalty. 

Sec. 1267. It shall be a misdemeanor, pun- 
ishable by imprisonment in the penitenti- 
ary, for not less than one year nor exceed- 
ing two years, or by a fine of not less than 
two hundred and fifty dollars, for any person, 
not an officer of or under the authority of 
the department of health, to falsely represent 
himself as such, with a fraudulent design 
upon persons or property, or to have, use. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


133 


■wear or display, without authority, any 
shield, or other insignia or emblem such as 
Is worn by such officer. 

Boarding: and lodging: house keepers 

and masters of vessels. 

Sec. 1268. Every keeper of a boarding or 
lodging house, and every master, owner, oi 
consignee of a vessel who shall refuse or 
neglect to obey the orders and directions 
of the department of health, as provided by 
this act, shall be considered guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined 
for each offense in a sum not exceeding two 
hundred and fifty dollars, or be imprisoned 
for a term not exceeding six months. 

Officers and magistrates to act prompt- 
ly. 

Sec. 1269. It shall be the duty of all pros- 
ecuting officers of criminal courts, and city 
magistrates to act promptly upon all com- 
plaints, and in all suits or proceedings for 
any violation of this chapter, and in all 
proceedings approved or promoted by said 
department, and to bring the same to a 
speedy hearing or termination and to render 
judgment and direct execution therein with- 
out delay. 

TITLE 5. 

REIMBURSEMENT FOR EXPENSES. 
Joint and several liability of owners, 

lessees and occapnnts of property and 

assignment of claims for expenses of 

execution of orders thereon. 

Sec. 1275. It is hereby declared to be the 
duty, of which there shall be a joint and 
several liability of every owner and part 
owner and person interested, and of every 
lessee, tenant, and occupant of, or in, any 
place, water, ground, room, stall, apart- 
ment, building, erection, vessel, vehicle, 
matter and thing in said city, and of every 
person conducting or interested in business 
therein or thereat, and of every person who 
has undertaken to clean any place, ground 
or street therein, and of every person, pub- 
lic officer, and board having charge of any 
ground, place, building or erection therein, 
to keep, place, and preserve the same and 
every part, and the sewerage, drainage, and 
ventilation thereof in such condition, and 
to conduct the same in such manner that 
it shall not be dangerous or prejudicial to 
life or health, subject to the ordinances of 
the sanitary code and the orders of the de- 
partment of health. 

On wlmt expenses to he a lien. 

Sec. 1276, The expenses attending the exe- 
cution of any and all orders duly made by the 
department of health shall respectively be a 
several and joint personal charge against 
each of the owners or part owners and each 
of the lessees and occupants of the building, 
business, place, property, matter or thing to 
which said order relates, and in respect of 
which said expenses were incurred; and also 
against every person or body who was by law 
or contract bound to do that in regard to such 
business, place, street, property, matter or 
thing which said order requires, and said 
expenses shall also be a lien on all rent and 
compensation due, or to grow due, for the 
use of any place, room, building, premises, 
matter, or thing to which said order relates, 
and in respect of which sal^d expenses were 
incurred, and also a lien on all compensation 
due, or to ^row due, for the cleaning of any 
street, place, ground, or thing, or for the 
cleaning, or removal, of any matter, thing, 
or place, the failure to do which by the party 
bound so to do, or doing of the same in 
whole or in part by order of said department, 
was the cause or occasion of any such order 
or expense. 


Salt for expenses. 

Sec. 1277. Said department of health, in 
case it has incurred any expense, or has ren- 
dered service for which payment is due, and 
as the rules of said department of health may 
provide, may institute and maintain a suit 
against ^iny one in this chapter declared lia- 
ble for expenses, or against any person, firm, 
or corporation, owing or who may owe such 
rent or compensation, and may recover the 
expenses so Incurred under any order afore- 
said. And only one or more of such parties 
liable or interested may be made parties to 
such action as the department may elect; but 
the parties made responsible as aforesaid for 
such expenses shall be liable to contribute or 
to make payment as between themselves, in 
respect of such expenses, and of any sum re- 
covered for such expenses or compensation, 
or by any party paid on account thereof, ac- 
cording to the legal or equitable obligation 
existing between them. 

Expense of executing; ' orders to be a 

lien. 

Sec. 1278. The said department shall have a 
lien for the expenses necessarily incurred in 
the execution of said order, and said expenses 
shall be a lien upon the land and buildings 
upon or in respect of which, or either of 
which, the work required by said order has 
been done, or expenses incurred, which lien 
shall have priority over all other liens and 
incumbrances, except taxes and assessments. 
But no such lien shall be valid for any pur- 
pose till the said department shall have 
caused to be filed in the office, or with the 
officer where notices of mechanics’ liens are 
now or may be hereafter required to be 
filed, a notice containing the same particu- 
lars as required to be stated with reference 
to mechanics’ liens, with the further 
statement that the expense has been in- 
curred in pursuance of an order of said de- 
partment, and giving its date. Upon such 
filing the said officer shall make the same 
entry on the book or index in which me- 
chanics’ liens are entered as he is required 
to enter in cases of mechanics’ liens, to- 
gether with a reference to said order by 
date; and thereafter the same shall, except 
as herein elsewhere provided, have the same 
effect in all respects as a mechanic’s lien; 
and all proceedings with reference to said 
lien, its enforcements and discharge, shall 
be had and carried on in the same manner 
as similar proceedings with reference to 
mechanics’ liene are now, or may be here- 
after by law had or carried on. The filing 
of such statement shall as to all persons 
have the same effect as filing of notice of 
mechanics’ liens; and unless within six 
months after actual notice of such filing, 
proceedings are taken by the party against 
whom or whose said property a lien is claim- 
ed, to discharge such lien, the filing shall, as 
to all persons having such actual notice, be- 
come conclusive evidence that the amount 
claimed in such statement, with Interest, is 
due, and is a Just lien upon said land and 
building. Such lien shall continue to be a 
lien for the space of four years from the time 
of filing such statement, unless proceedings 
are in the meantime taken to enforce or 
discharge the same, which may be done at 
any time during its continuance. In case 
proceedings are so taken, it shall remain a 
lien until the final termination of such pro- 
ceedings; and if such proceeding shall result 
in a judgment for the amount claimed in 
such statement, or any portion thereof, such 
judgment shall, to such extent, be a lien in 
the same manner, and from the same time 
as said statement. 


Statement of expense of executing or- 
ders. 

Sec. 1279. When the department of health 
shall, through its own officers, and men and 
means have executed, or so far executed as 
said department may require, any order, the 
expenses of such execution, giving in general 
terms the items of such expense and the 
date of execution, shall be stated in an" affi- 
davit, and the same shall be filed among the 
records of said department with the order 
so executed; and said department shall take 
care by, or through some proper officer, or 
otherwise, that the expenses of such execu- 
tion be so stated with fairness and accu- 
racy; and when it shall appear that such 
execution, or the expenses thereof, related 
to several lots or buildings belonging to 
different persons, said affidavit shall state 
what belongs to, or arose in respect to each 
lot of said several lots or buildings, as said 
department of health or its authorized officer 
may direct; and said department may revise 
the correctness of such apportionment of ex- 
penses as truth and justice may require. 
Whenever the expenses attending the 
execution of any order of said depart- 
ment of health may be made the subject 
of a suit by said department, there may be 
joined in the same suit a claim or claims for 
any penalty or penalties for violation of any 
provisions of this chapter, or for the violation 
or omission to perform or obey said order, or 
any prior order of said department, or for the 
not doing of that, or any portion of that, for 
the doing of which said expenses arose or 
were incurred; and the proper joint or sev- 
eral judgment may be had against one or 
more of the defendants in the suit, as they 
or either of them may be liable in respect of 
both said claims, or either or any of them. 
And said expenses of executing said order, 
and the expenses of executing any judgment 
in any abatement suit in this chapter provided 
for, and the several judgments that may be 
recovered hereunder, or otherwise, for any such 
penalty or expenses, or for both such penalty 
or expenses together, until the same are paid 
or discharged, shall be a lien as other judg- 
ments, and also a lien and charge upon rent 
and compensation due or then maturing from 
any tenant or occupant of the building, lots, 
and premises, or the parts thereof to which 
any such order or judgment relates, or in re- 
spect of which any such expenses were in- 
curred. And such expenses and judgments 
shall respectively be a lien on all compensa- 
tion due or to grow due from the clean- 
ing of any street, place, ground, or 
thing, or for the cleaning or removal 
of any matter, thing, or place, the fail- 
ure to do which by the party bound so to 
do, or the doing of the same in whole or in 
part by order of said department, was the 
cause or occasion of any such charge or ex- 
pense. For the purpose of rendering such 
lien and charge more effectual to secure pay- 
ment of any such expenses or Judgment, from 
any rent or compensation aforesaid, proceed- 
ings may be taken as follows: 

1. The department of health may serve a 
copy of the order under or by reason of which 
such expenses were authorized or incurred 
with a copy 6f any affidavit stating the ex- 
penses of the execution of such order, or if 
the claim be a judgment, may serve a tran- 
script of such judgment, and any affidavit 
showing the expense of its execution if there 
be any, upon any person or corporation, ow- 
ing, or who is about to owe any such compen- 
sation, or owing or about to owe any rent or 
compensation for the use or occupation of 
any grounds, premises or building, or any 
part thereof, to which said order or judg- 


134 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


tient relates, and In respect of which such ex- 
penses embraced in said judgment related or 
were incurred, and may, at any time of 
such service, demand in writing that 
euch rent, or any such compensation to the 
extent of said claims for said expenses, 
Or for any such judgment or expense 
in executing the same shall, when such rent 
or compensatloiy»becomes due and payable, 
be paid to the department of health. 

2. After the service of the papers aforesaid 
and such demand, any tenant, lessee, occu- 
pant, or other person owing, or about to 
owe, any such rent or any such compensa- 
tion shall, when such rent or any such com- 
pensation shall mature, or become payable, 
pay the same, and from time to time pay 
any other amount thereof, as the same may 
become due and payable, or so much thereof 
as is sufficient to satisfy any such judgment 
or claim for expenses, or both, so served, 
to said department of health, and a receipt 
shall be given therefor, stating on account 
of what order or judgment and expenses the 
same has been paid and reoeired; and the 
amount so received shall be deposited where 
other funds of said department are kept, to 
the special account of such department. 

3. Any person or corporation refusing or 
omitting, as herein directed, to make such 
payment to the department of health, after 
service of the paper and demand aforesaid, 
as herein required, shall be personally liable 
to said department of health for the amount 
that should have been paid to said depart- 
ment according to the provisions hereof, and 
may by such health department be sued 
therefor; and such persons shall not in such 
suit, dispute or call in question the au- 
thority of said department of health to in- 
cur, or order such expense or the validity or 
correctness of such expenses or judgment in 
any particular, or the right of the said de- 
partment to have the same paid from such 
rent or compensation. But the receipt of 
such department for any sum paid as afore- 
said shall, in all suits and proceedings, and 
for every purpose, be as effectual in favor 
of any person holding the same, as actuul 
payment of the amount thereof to the proper 
landlord, lessor, owner, or other person or 
persons who would, but for the provisions of 
this title, and of said demand, have been 
entitled to receive the sum so paid. And it 
is further expressly declared that no tenant 
ar occupant of any lot, building or premises, 
lhall be dispossessed or disturbed, nor shall 
any lease or contract, or rights, be forfeit- 

or impaired, nor any forfeiture or lia- 
bility be incurred by reason of any omission 
to pay to any landlord, owner, lessor, con- 
tractor, party, or other person, the sum so 
paid to said department of health, or any 
part thereof. 

Department to retain moneys till 

twelve days after notice. 

Sec. 1280. The said department of health 
shall retain money so paid until twelve days 
after it shall be made to appear to said de- 
partment of health, or some proper officer 
thereof, by satisfactory affidavit, that the 
party or parties, or his or their agent for the 
collection of any such rent or compensation, 
who, but for the provisions hereof would 
have been entitled to receive the same, has 
had written notice of such payment being 
made; and if at the end of said twelve days, 
the party or parties aforesaid, so notified, 
have not instituted suit to recover said 
money, as hereinafter provided, then it 
shall, by said department, be paid to the 
citv chamber.'"-'!' 


TITLE 6. 

ABATEMENT BY SUIT. 
Nuisance defined. 

Sec. 1287. A wilful omission or refusal of 
any individual, corporation, or body, to forth- 
with abate any nuisance, as ordered by a 
resolution of the board of health, duly served 
upon them, pursuant to the provisions of 
this act, or to conform to any ordinance of 
the sanitary code or any sanitary regulation 
of said board, duly made for the protection 
of life, or the care, promotion, or preserva- 
tion of health, pursuant to its pow r er or au- 
thority, shall be a misdemeanor, and the per- 
son or officers guilty thereof shall be liable 
to indictment and punishment as for a mis- 
demeanor. In addition thereto every person, 
body or corporation that shall violate or not 
conform to any ordinance of the sanitary 
code, or any rule, sanitary regulation or 
special or general order of said board, duly 
made, shall be liable to pay a penalty not 
exceeding fifty dollars for each offense, which 
may be sued for and recovered by and in 
the name of said department of health, with 
costs, before any justice or tribunal In said 
city of New York having jurisdiction of civil 
actions. 

Suits to abate nuisances. 

Sec. 1288. For the abatement or remedying 
any of the nuisances mentioned or declared in 
this chapter or by the board of health 
pursuant to the authority devolved 
upon and conferred upon it by 
this act, the board of health may institute 
and maintain in any court in said city hav- 
ing Jurisdiction in suits where the amount 
claimed exceeds one thousand dollars, a suit 
or suits at law or in equity. And all costs 
collected in any such action or proceeding 
qhall be paid over to the department and ac- 
counted for by it. To all such suits the 
provisions of this chapter, relative to juris- 
diction, costs, and parties, shall be appli- 
cable; and the courts shall allow the plaint- 
iff, at any proper stage of the case, to 
amend, by joining other parties defendant; 
and no suit shall be dismissed or defeated 
by reason of there being other persons in- 
terested therein, or concerned in causing, 
creating, or maintaining the nuisance com- 
plained of in such suit. 

Id.; trial thereof. 

Sec. 1289. Such suit shall be tried by the 
court without a jury, unless, some defend- 
ant shall, in his answer, or by notice in 
writing to be served on plaintiff’s attorney 
within five days after service of said an- 
swer, demand a trial by jury on some ques- 
tion of fact, to be in said answer, or notice 
distinctly stated, and in respect of which a 
right of trial by jury exists, and if any such 
demand be so made and served, the case 
shall, as to all the defendants, be placed on 
the calendar of jury trial cases as a pre- 
ferred case; and when moved for trial, if is- 
sues of fact for the jury have not before 
been settled, the presiding judge may state 
in writing the issues of fact to be submit- 
ted to the jury, or the trial shall proceed 
upon the material issues of fact made by 
the pleadings without such written state- 
ment of issues; and the judge who presided 
at the trial (or some judge of the same 
court, if said judge be unable to proceed 
therewith) shall, on receiving the verdict, or 
as soon thereafter, and at the same term, 
if possible, settle and cause to be entered 
the proper judgment in said suit. 

Id.; judgment; wliat to contain. 

Sec. 1290. If the judgment be that any nui- 
sance may be abated or remedied, in whole 

cr in part, said jadjx.n; i «.■ 


ficient directions for its proper execution, and 
the judge shall, from the pleadings and the 
evidence given at the trial, find and state 
what proportion of the expense of such exe- 
cution shall be paid or be borne by each or 
all of the defendants, jointly or severally; 
and if, in the opinion of the court, any part 
of or all of the expense of such execution 
should be borne by said department of 
health, or the execution of such judgment 
should be made by said department or under 
its direction, said judgment shall contain 
the appropriate directions in respect to such 
last-named payment or execution. Said judg- 
ment, if against any defendant, shall, on its 
face, state that it will be a lieu on the real 
property, and corporeal hereditaments of such 
defendant or defendants respectively, to 
which the said nuisance shall have related, 
till his or their proportion of such expenses 
of execution are satisfied, or the lien there- 
of shall be otherwise discharged according 
to law. 

I.ien of Judgment; how removed. 

Sec. 1291. Any person prejudicially affected 
by the lien of any such judgment may, on 
five days’ notice to said department, make a 
motion before any judge of the court in 
which said judgnent was rendered, for an or- 
der that the lien of such judgment be dis- 
charged as to all or any specific property set 
forth; and if it shall appear to such judge, 
on the hearing of such motion, that such 
five days’ notice of such motion has been 
given to the board of health, and that such 
Judgment has been executed, and the ex- 
penses paid which the lien sought to be dis- 
charged, was designed to secure; or, if a 
proper or sufficient undertaking or bond, with 
sureties, shall be given for the payment of 
such expenses; or if the board of health, or 
its counsel, shall, in writing, consent to the 
discharge of the last named lien, as to any 
or all property referred to, or as to one or 
more defendants, then said judge may order 
said lien discharged of record by the proper 
officer, to the extent and as to the person 
or persons that the order shall specify; and 
it shall be so discharged; and such order and 
the moving papers shall be filed with the 
proper clerk,- as the judge may direct. 

Appeals and stays. 

Sec. 1292. No appeal by any party defendant 
shall stay the execution of any judgment 
aforesaid, except to the extent, in reference 
to the persons, and on the conditions the 
judge who tried the case, or some other judge 
of the same court, shall, on the settling of 
the Judgment, or on motion, on four days’ 
notice to said department of health, specially 
order; and if no such order shall be made, 
the judgment shall be executed, notwith- 
standing any appeal, undertaking or securi- 
ty, and without any liability on the part of 
any person by reason of any damages or con- 
sequences growing out of the execution of 
said judgment, whether the same be reversed 
or not. All appeals by the defendants from 
any judgment in the said abatement suits 
shall be taken within thirty days after no- 
tice, in writing, to the defendant or his at- 
torney, of the entry of the judgment therein, 
and the judge who tries the case may, in his 
discretion, order a stay as to the execution 
of the judgment, but only for the period of 
the said thirty days, and within said period 
of thirty days an undertaking or security on 
appeal must be filed, of the form and obliga- 
tion required in ordinary appeals from judg- 
ments, but also to be conditioned for the 
payment of the appellant’s adjudged share 
of the expenses of executing such judgment, 
or if not estimated in said judgment, as the 
ob ti-.'.'futlon cr. I tl:. c <3;. j s' noace 


THE CHARTER OP THE CITY OF NEW 


to said department, shall estimate the same, 
in conformity with the judgment, for the 
purpose of such security on appeal. But the 
execution of any judgment against the de- 
fendants shall not be delayed beyond thirty 
days, if within that period the proper under- 
taking or security on appeal, approved by the 
Judge, has not been filed, and the appeal per- 
fected, as herein provided. The judgment 
may state the estimated expense that will 
have to be paid by any party toward execut- 
ing said judgment; but the board of health 
may appeal in any such ease, or any case 
to jvhich the health department is a party 
within thirty days after the entry of any 
judgment, and without giving any security; 
such appeal shall be effectual and shall oper- 
ate as a stay on the part of the judgment in 
respect to which said department appeals. 

Claims for penalty may be joined iu 

abatement suits. 

Sec. 1293. In any such abatement suit said 
department may join a cause of action for 
any penalty or penalties that may have been 
Incurred by either of the defendants, by rea- 
son of, or in connection with, the nuisance 
complained of, or by reason of any omission 
or refusal of any defendant to obey or com- 
ply with anv ordinance of the sanitary code 
or any order of the department of health 
touching such alleged nuisance, and have 
th- proper provision in any judgment there- 
to. against one or more of the defendants. 

Juus'ment of appellate division; what 

to contain. 

Sec. 1294. The judgment of the appellate 
division, if it shall, to any extent, direct any 
change in the judgment appealed from, but 
shall direct, or allow or fail to forbid tho 
judgment in part to be executed, shall also 
contain the requisite specific provisions, so 
that the judgment, as modified, may be exe- 
cuted, and the due proportion of the expenses 
of such execution may be assessed on the 
defendants, respectively, or on said depart- 
ment, as the appellate division may adjudge. 
There may be an appeal from the appellate 
division to the court of appeals, in such 
abatement suit, and therein the provisions 
hereof as to appeals from the judgment to 
the appellate division, and as to the securi- 
ty on appeal, shall in all particulars, includ- 
ing the length of time given in which to take 
an appeal, apply, except that no undertaking 
on its appeal is necessary on the part of the 
department of health, and no change in the 
code of civil procedure, or otherwise, hereaf- 
ter to be made, though in subject matter ap- 
plicable to said abatement suits, shall be con- 
strued to modify the aforesaid or other pro- 
visions of the health laws as to any suits 
thereunder, unless such act shall specifically 
declare such modification to be intended. 

Statement of expense of execution. 

Sec. 1295. Upon the execution, in whole or 
in part, of any such judgment, if said depart- 
ment shall, as it is hereby authorized to do, 
decide the public interest to demand only ex- 
ecution in part thereof, a statement of the ex- 
penses of such execution shall be made, and 
such expenses shall be therein apportion- 
ed not contrary to any provisions 
of said judgment; and upon the 
same thing verified by the oath of some 
officer of said department, such statement, 
entitled in the case, may be filed or given 
to the proper clerk to be filed, with such 
judgment; and notice of such filing or de- 
livery, and a copy of such statement shall be 
given to the attorneys of the defendant fn 
the suit, or to the defendants themselves, or 
to some one of the Joint defendants; and un- 
less with;," ten (].- j i »;tjr sr; - r-o'tee. 


such defendants shall give due notice, in writ- 
ing, to said department, of a motion, and serve 
therewith copies of affidavits to correct such 
statement in particulars to be mentioned, 
and separately and clearly stated in such 
affidavit, such statement aforesaid shall be in 
all suits, and proceedings, and tribunals, and 
at all times, deemed and taken to be final, con- 
clusive and correct; and no formal defect in 
such statement shall in any wise vitiate the 
same. And on any hearing of such motion 
said department may read affidavits in sup- 
port of such original statement; and the find- 
ing of any judge on the hearing of such mo- 
tion, as the said statement of such expenses 
and other matters fn such motion involved, or 
statement contained, shall be final and conclu- 
sive, and not subject to appeal; and such find- 
ing or statement as modified by such finding 
when filed, shall be of the same effect as such 
original statement would have been had no 
motion in, regard thereto been made; and for 
the purpose of an execution for such expense, 
and creating a lien under any judgment, such 
statements and finding or modified statement 
shall be regarded as a part of said judgment, 
and the lien thereof shall extend to any 
amounts stated in such final statement and 
finding. In so far as any judgment may be 
directed to be executed at the expense of 
said department of health, or by any party 
defendant at his own expense, and shall by 
such party defendant be so executed, the ex- 
pense of such execution shall not be stated or 
embraced in the aforesaid statement or find- 
ing of expenses; but if any part of the exe- 
cution aforesaid, which any party should 
have borne or paid, shall, by reason of the 
delay, refusal or defective act or execution 
of such party, or any other cause, be paid, 
borne or incurred by said department of. 
health, in and about the execution of such 
judgment, then the said latter expenses of 
said department may be embraced in said 
statement and finding, and collected by exe- 
cution as aforesaid. 

Execution tliereapon. 

Sec. 1298. For the proportion and amounts 
as authorized by such judgment, and con- 
tained in such finding or in such 
statement or modified statement, when 
either of the same shall have be- 
come final, as aforesaid, said department 
shall have execution, on application ex parte, 
to a judge of the court in w'hich the Judg- 
ment was recovered, and such execution 
shall, in due form, be allowed by any such 
Judge; such execution to be against any one 
or more defendants or Joint defendants for 
the recovery of any amount due from such 
defendant, or defendants, which the party 
claiming such execution is entitled to re- 
ceive; and such execution, except as herein 
specially provided, shall be of the same 
effect and form as any execution duly 
issued pursuant to any judgment. But no 
execution shall be issued against any de- 
fendant for less than the whole sum due 
from such defendant, or for less than he 
shall be liable to pay in such suit; but any 
sum adjudged against any defendant or 
defendants, in any such abatement suit 
for penalties, costs, or for other cause 
than jthe expense of the abatement or 
remedying of such nuisance, may be collected 
by separate or other executions, other than 
those authorized for collecting such expenses, 
to be issued in due course of law. 

Injunction may be granted in abate- 
ment snitn; requisites. 

Sec. 1297. In any abatement suit aforesaid 
the court or a judge thereof, may issue and 
enforce an appropriate preliminary injunc- 
ti e, \vb;nayor !t sfca!! be ashed for. by the 


YORK. 135 


board of health, and there shall appear to 
such judge to be reasonable cause therefor; 
and such injunction may also be granted 
whenever it shall be made to appear to the 
court or a Judge thereof, by affidavit, that 
such injunction is needed, to prevent any 
illegal act, conduct, or business aforesaid or 
its continuance, or to prevent any serious 
danger to human life or serious detriment 
to health, or great public inconvenience, 
touching any matter or thing to which this 
chapter or the health laws aforesaid relate. 
And In any such injunction order the court 
may require any building, erection or grounds 
to he put in a condition that will not be dan- 
gerous to the life or detrimental to the 
health of' any occupant, before the same 
shall be leased, or rented, or occupied, or 
before any rent or compensation shall be 
collected for the rent or use of the whole or 
any portion of the same. In any such in- 
junction order, and also in any judgment in 
any abatement suit, the judge or court may 
require the tenants, lessees and occupants, 
or either or any of them, of any such build- 
ing, erection, or grounds, to pay rent there- 
of, or compensation therefor, due or to grow 
due to the health department, and said de- 
partment to collect and receive and apply 
said rent to the payment of the expenses of 
putting any said building, erection, or ground 
in a condition that will not be dangerous 
to the life or detrimental to the health of 
any present or future tenant, lessee or occu- 
pant, or of any other person; all such col- 
lections and payments to be made in such 
manner, to' such extent, and on such con- 
ditions as the court shall by order or Judg- 
ment provide; and every such payment to 
said department, and the receipt of its 
treasurer for such rent or compensation, 
shall be as effectual to protect any 
person who has made the same, and every 
euch tenant, lessee and occupant, and all 
his and their rights under any lease or 
occupation, as if such payment had been made 
to, and such receipt had been given by the 
lessor or owner, or any proper claimant of 
any such rent or compensation, who had, but 
for such order or judgment, the right and 
authority to receive the same. But no un- 
dertaking or security shall be required or 
necessary on the part of said department as 
a condition of granting such injunction, or 
the same being effectual; and in any final 
judgment in such suit there may be en- 
joined whatever, if about to happen or 
threatened, would be the proper subject mat- 
ter of a preliminary injunction. And when 
the public interest seems to the court to re- 
quire a speedy trial or hearing of any such 
suit or appeal therein, it shall be the duty 
of any judge of any court aforesaid, or of 
the court to whom application by said board 
may be properly made, to cause such suit or 
appeal to be advanced and brought to a 
speedy trial, and before it would otherwise 
be reached by trial or argument in due 
course on the calendar, as the judge or court 
may by special order direct. 

Expenses of department of health to he 

paid out of its funds. 

Sec. 1298. Whatever expenses said depart- 
ment of health may lawfully and properly 
incur in the execution of any judgment 
aforesaid, or In executing or in connection 
with its own orders, made in good faith, or 
in and about the discharge in good faith of 
its supposed duties, or in satisfying any 
liability or judgment it may have in good 
faith incurred or suffered by reason of Its 
acts done in good faith as aforesaid, or in 
satisfying any claim against its officers or 
••• v 'r'i-'.“r srjrn; from tbeir acts !n tho 


136 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


discharge, in good faith, of their supposed 
respective duties, shall, so far as established, 
be paid out of its funds or other moneys ap- 
propriated to such purpose or to its use. 

Infected and uninhabitable bouses to 
be condemned by board of health. 

Sec. 1299. Whenever it shall be certified to 
the board of health of The City of New York 
by the sanitary superintendent or an as- 
sistant sanitary superintendent that any 
building or any part thereof in The City of 
New York is infected with contagious dis- 
ease, or by reason of want of repair has be- 
come dangerous to life, or is unfit for human 
habitation because of defects in drainage, 
plumbing, ventilation, or the construction of 
the same, or because of the existence of a 
nuisance on the premises, which is likely to 
cause sickness among its occupants, the said 
board of health may issue an order requiring 
all persons therein to vacate such building 
or part thereof for the reasons to be stated 
therein as aforesaid. Said board shall cause 
said order to be affixed conspicuously in the 
building or part thereof and to be per- 
sonally served on the owner, lessee, agent, 
occupant, or any person having the 
charge or care thereof; if the owner, 
lessee or agent can not be found in The City 
of New York or does not reside therein, or 
evades or resists service, then said order may 
be served by depositing a copy thereof in the 
post office in The City of New York, properly 
enclosed and addressed to such owner, lessee 
er agent at his last known place of business 
and residence, and prepaying the postage 
thereon; such building or part thereof shall, 
within ten days after said order shall have 
been posted and mailed as aforesaid, or with- 
in such shorter time, not less than twenty- 
four hours, as in said order may be specified, 
be vacated, but said board of health, when- 
ever it shall become satisfied that the danger 
from said building or part thereof has ceased 
to exist, or that said building has been re- 
paired so as to be habitable, may revoke said 
order. 

Proceedings for condemnation pre- 
scribed. 

Sec. 1300. Whenever, in the opinion of the 
board of health of The City of New York, any 
building or part thereof in The City of. New 
York, an order to vacate which has been 
made by said board is, by reason of age, de- 
fects in drainage, plumbing, infection with 
contagious disease, or ventilation, or because 
of the existence of a nuisance on the prem- 
ises, which is likely to cause sickness among 
its occupants, or among the occupants of 
other property in The City of New York, or 
because it stops ventilation in other build- 
ings, or otherwise makes or conduces to 
make other buildings adjacent to the same 
unfit for huipan habitation, or dangerous or 
injurious to health, or because it prevents 
proper measures from being carried into ef- 
fect for remedying any nuisance injurious to 
health, or because of other sanitary evils in 
respect of such other buildings, so unfit for 
human habitation that the evils in, or caused 
by said building, can not be remedied by re- 
pairs, or in any other way except by the de- 
struction of said building, or of a portion of 
the same, said board of health may, if it 
deem such course just and proper, condemn 
the same and order it removed; provided, 
however, that the ow r ner or owners of said 
building may demand a survey of said build- 
ing in the manner provided for in case of 
unsafe buildings, and may institute proceed- 
ings in the supreme court in The City of New 
York for the condemnation of said building. 


Said proceeding shall be instituted through 
a petition addressed to said court containing 
a brief statement of the reasons therefor, 
and shall not be required to contain further 
allegations of facts than those which have 
actuated the board of health in this proceed- 
ing, which shall then be carried on in the 
manner prescribed by chapter twenty-one of 
this act. The owner of said building or any 
person interested therein may in his answer 
dispute the necessity of the destruction of 
said building or part thereof, as the case may 
be. In such case, the court shall not appoint 
commissioners unless proof is made of the 
necessity of such destruction. In such pro- 
ceeding evidence shall be receivable by the 
commissioners to prove: 

1. That the rental of the building was 
enhanced by reason of the same being used 
for illegal purposes, or being so over- 
crowded as to be dangerous or injurious to 
the health of the inmates; or 

2. That the building is in a state of defec- 
tive sanitation, or is not in reasonably good 
repair; or 

3. That the building is unfit, and not rea- 
sonably capable of being made fit, for human 
habitation; and, if the commissioners are 
satisfied by such evidence, then the compen- 
sation- 

fa) Shall in the first case, so far as it is 
based on rental, be on the rental of the 
building, as distinct from the ground rent, 
which would have been obtainable if the 
building was occupied for legal purposes, and 
only by the number of persons whom the 
building was under all the circumstances of 
the case, fitted to accommodate without such 
overcrowding as is dangerous or injurious to 
the health of the inmates; and 

(b) Shall in the second case be the amount 
estimated as the value of the building if it 
had been put into a sanitary condition, or 
into reasonably good repair, after deducting 
the estimated expense of putting it into 
such condition or repair; and 

(c) Shall in the third case be the value of 
the materials of the building. 

For the payment of all awards and the ex- 
penses of all such proceedings, the comptrol- 
ler shall issue and sell from time to time 
as may be necessary and in the manner here- 
inbefore provided, corporate stock of The 
City of New York. 

TITLE 7. 

LODGING-HOUSES. 
Construction generally. 

Sec. 1304. Every house, building, or portion 
thereof, in The City of New York, used, oc- 
cupied, leased or rented for a lodging-house 
must conform in its construction, appurte- 
nances and premises to the requirements of 
this title; and its use and occupation shall 
be regulated subject to the ordinances of the 
sanitary code, applicable thereto, and the or- 
ders of the board of health duly made, pur- 
suant to its authority, duty and powers con- 
ferred and enjoined upon it in this chapter. 
Definitions. 

Sec. 1305. A lodging house shall be taken 
to mean and include any house or building, 
or portion thereof, in which persons are 
harbored, or received or lodged, for hire for 
a single night, or for less than a week at one 
time, or any part of which is let for any 
person to sleep in, for any term less 
than a week. A cellar shall be taken 
to mean and include every basement 
or lower story of any building or 
house of which, one-half or more of the 
height from the floor to the ceiling, is below 
the level of the street adjoining. 


Roofs and stairs and fire-escapes. 

Sec. 1306. The roof of every such house 
shall be kept in good repair, and so as not 
to leak, and all rain water shall be so drained 
or conveyed therefrom as to prevent its 
dripping on to the ground, or causing damp- 
ness in the walls, yard, or area. All stairs 
shall be provided with proper banisters and 
railings, and shall be kept in good repair. 
Every such house shall be provided with a 
proper fire-escape, or means of escape in case 
of fire, to be approved by the bureau of 
buildings. 

Sleeping-rooms; ventilation. 

Sec. 1307. Every house, building or portion 
thereof in the city designed to be used, oc- 
cupied, leased or rented, or which is used, 
occupied, leased or rented for a lodging- 
house, shall have in every room which is 
occupied as a sleeping-room, and which does 
not communicate directly with the external 
air, a ventilating or transom window, having 
an opening or area of three square feet, 
over the door leading into, and connected 
with the adjoining room, if such adjoining 
room communicates with the external air, 
and also a ventilating or transom window of 
the same opening or area, communicating 
with the entry or hall of the house, or where 
this is, from the relative situation of the 
rooms, impracticable, such last-mentioned 
ventilating or transom window shall com- 
municate with an adjoining room that itself 
communicates with the entry or hall. Every 
such house, or building, shall have in the 
roof, at the top of the hall, an adequate 
and proper ventilator, of a form approved by 
the bureau of buildings. 

Water-closets, privies and sinks. 

Sec. 1308. Every lodging-house shall be 
provided with as many good and sufficient 
water-closets, improved privy sinks, or other 
similar receptacles, as the department of 
health shall require, but in no case shall 
there be less than one for every fifteen oc- 
cupants. The water-closets, sinks, and re- 
ceptacles, shall have.proper doors, soli pipes, 
and traps, all of which shall be properly 
ventilated to prevent the escape of dele- 
terious gas and odors, soil pans, cisterns, 
pumps and other suitable works and fixtures, 
necessary to insure the efficient operation, 
cleansing, and flushing thereof. Every lodg- 
ing-house situated upon a lot on a street 
or avenue in which there is a sewer, shall 
have a separate and proper connection with 
the sewer; and the water-closets, sinks, and 
other receptacles shall be properly connected 
with the sewer by proper pipes made thor- 
oughly air-tight. Such sewer connection, 
and all the drainage and plumbing work, 
water-closets, sinks and other receptacles, in 
and for every lodging-house shall be 
of the form, construction, or arrange- 
ment, location, materials, workmanship 
and description as may be required by 
the rules and regulations of the bureau 
of buildings of The City of New York. 
Every owner, lessee and occupant shall 
take adequate measures to prevent improper 
substances from entering such water-closets, 
or sinks, or their connections, and to secure 
the prompt removal of any improper sub- 
stances that may enter them, so that no ac- 
cumulation shall take place, and so as to 
prevent any exhalations therefrom, offensive, 
dangerous and prejudicial to life or health,’ 
and so as to prevent the same from being 
or becoming obstructed. No privy, vault or 
cess-pool shall be allowed in, under, or con- 
nected with any such house except when it 
is unavoidable, and a permit therefor shall 
have been granted by the department of 
health, and in such case it shall be con- 
structed in such situation and in such man- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 


137 


ner as the bureau of buildings may direct. It 
shall in all cases be water-tight and arched 
or securely covered over, and no offensive 
smell or gases shall be allowed to escape 
therefrom, or from any closet, sink or privy. 
In all cases where a sewer exists in the 
street or avenue, upon which the house or 
building stands, the yard or area shall be con- 
nected with the sewer, so that all water 
from the roof or otherwise, and all liquid 
filth shall pass freely into the sewer. Where 
there is no sewer in the street or avenue, or 
adjaceni thereto, with which connection can 
be made, the yard and area shall be so 
graded that all water from the roof or other- 
wise, and all filth shall flow freely therefrom 
intc the street gutter, by a passage beneath 
the sidewalk, which passage shall be cov- 
ered by a permanent cover, so arranged as 
to permit access to remove obstructions or 
impurities. 

Cellars ami basements not to be occu- 
pied for living: purposes, except In 

certain cases. 

Sec 1309. It shall not be lawful, without 
a permit from the bureau of buildings, to 
construct, during the erection of a lodging- 
house, nor after the completion of such 
lodging-house, any room or rooms in any 
basement or cellar to be occupied wholly or 
in part as a dwelling, nor shall it be lawful 
without a permit from the department of 
nealth to let, occupy, or suffer to be occu- 
pied separately as a dwelling, any vault, cel- 
lar, or underground room, built or rebuilt 
after July first, eighteen hundred and sixty- 
seven, or which shall have not been so let 
or occupied before said date. 

Cellars and vaults not to be used for 

sleeping-rooms. 

Sec. 1310. No vault, cellar, or underground 
room shall be occupied as a place of lodging 
or sleeping, except the same shall be ap- 
proved, in writing, and a permit given 
therefor by the board of health. No wall 
paper shall be placed upon a wall or ceil- 
ing of any lodging-house, unless all wall 
paper shall be first removed therefrom, and 
said wall and ceiling thoroughly cleansed. 
Every lodging-house, and every part there- 
of, shall be kept clean and free from any 
accumulations of dirt, filth, garbage or 
other matter in or on the same, or in the 
yard, court, passage, area or alley connected 
with it, or belonging to the same. The 
owner or keeper of any lodging-house, shall 
thoroughly cleanse all the rooms, passages, 
stairs, floors, windows, doors, walls, ceilings, 
privies, cesspools and drains of the house or 
part of the house of which he is the owner 
or lessee, to the satisfaction of the depart- 
ment of health, so often as he shall be 
required by or in accordance with any order 
of the board of health and any regulation 
or ordinance of said department, and shall 
well and sufficiently, to the satisfaction of 
.the said health department, whitewash the 
walls and ceilings thereof once at least iu 
every year. 

Certain occupations and business pro- 
hibited. 

Sec. 1311. Every lodging-house shall have 
the proper and suitable conveniences or re- 
ceptacles for receiving garbage and other 
refuse matters. No lodging-house or prem- 
ises, nor any portion thereof, shall be used 
as a place of storage for any combustible 
article, or any article dangerous to life or 
detrimental to health; nor shall any horse, 
cow, calf, swine, pig, sheep or goat be kept 
in said house or on the premises thereof. 


Owners’ names to be registered in de- 
partment of health. 

Sec. 1312. Every owner of a lodging-house 
and every person having control of a lodging- 
house, shall file in the department of health, 
a notice containing his name and address, 
and also a description of the property, by 
street number or otherwise, as the case may 
be, in such manner as will enable the de- 
partment of health easily to find the same. 
In case of a transfer of any lodging-house, 
it shall be the duty of the grantor and 
grantee of said lodging-house to file in the 
department of health a notice of such trans- 
fer, stating the name of the new owner, 
within thirty days after such transfer. In 
case of the devolution of said property by 
will, it shall be the duty of the executors 
and of the devisee, if more than twenty-one 
years of age, and in case of the devolution 
of such property by inheritance without a 
will, it shall be the duty of the heirs, or in 
case all of the heirs are under age, it shall 
be the duty of the guardians of such heirs, 
and in case said heirs have no guardians, 
it shall be the duty of the administrator of 
the deceased owner of said property to file 
in said department a notice, stating the death 
of the deceased owner, and the names of 
those who have succeeded to his interest in 
said property, within thirty days after the 
death of said decedent, in case he died in- 
testate, and within thirty days after the pro- 
bate of his will, if he died testate. A failure 
to file such notice shall make said property, 
and the owners thereof, liable to a penalty 
of not less than ten dollars nor more than 
fifty dollars. Said penalty may be recovered 
in an action brought by the health depart- 
ment, as provided in this act. Every per- 
son claiming to have an interest in any 
lodging-house may file his name and address 
in the department of health. All notices and 
orders of the department of health required 
by law to be served in relation to a lodging- 
house, shall be served by posting in some 
conspicuous place in the house a copy of 
the notice or order, five days before the time 
for doing the thing in relation to which said 
notice or order was issued. The posting of 
a copy of an order or notice, in accordance 
with this section, shall be sufficient service 
upon the owner of the property affected. 
It shall be the duty of the department of 
health to cause a copy of every such notice 
or order to be mailed, on the same day that 
it is posted in the house, addressed to the 
name and address of each person who has 
filed with the department of health the no- 
tice provided for in this section. 

Inspection twice a year; officers to 

have access. 

Sec. 1313. It shall be the duty of the 
board of health to cause a careful in- 
spection to be made of every lodging- 
house at least twice in each year. And 
whenever the board of health has made 
any order concerning a lodging-house it 
shall cause a reinspection to be made of the 
same within six days after it has been in- 
formed that the order has been served. The 
keeper of any lodging house and the owner, 
agent of the owner, lessee or occupant of 
any tenement house, and every other person 
having the care and management thereof, 
shall, at all times, when required by any 
officer of the department of health, or by 
any officer upon whom any duty is conferred 
by this title, give him free access to such 
house, and to every part thereof. The own- 
er or keeper of any lodging house, and the 
owner, agent of the owner and the lessee 
of any tenement house or part thereof, shall, 
whenever any person in such house is sick 
of fever, or of any infectious, pestilential 


or contagious disease, and information there- 
of has been given to such owner, keeper, 
agent or lessee, give immediate notice ther«« 
of to the board of health, or to some officer 
of the same, and thereupon said board shall 
cause the same to be immediately cleansed 
or disinfected, at the expense of the owner, 
in such manner as it may deem necessary 
and effectual, and it may also cause the 
blankets, bedding and bedclothes used by 
any such sick persons to be thoroughly 
cleansed, scoured and fumigated, or, in ex- 
treme cases, to be destroyed. 

Honses hereafter erected to comply 

with additional requirements. 

Sec. 1314. No house hereafter erected shall 
be used as a lodging house, and no house 
heretofore erected and not now used for such 
purpose, shall be converted into, used, or 
leased for a lodging house, unless, in addi- 
tion to the requirements hereinbefore con- 
tained, it conforms to requirements contained 
in the following sections of this title. 
Construction of lodging-houses and 

spaces prescribed for building the 

same. 

Sec. 1315. It shall not be lawful, without 
a permit from the bureau of buildings, to 
alter, erect or convert to the purposes of a 
lodging house, a building on any lot where 
there is another building on the same lot; 
nor shall it be lawful to build or to erect 
any building on any lot whereon there is 
already a lodging house, unless there is a 
clear open space exclusively belonging there- 
to, and extending upward from the ground 
of at least ten feet between said buildings 
if they are one story high above the level 
of the ground; if they are two stories high, 
the distance between them shall not be less 
than fifteen feet; if they are three stories 
high, the distance shall not be less than 
twenty feet; if they are more than three 
stories high, the distance between them 
shall not be less than twenty-five feet, 
but when thorough ventilation of such 
open spaces can be otherwise secured, 
such distances may be lessened or modified 
in special cases by a permit from the bureau 
of buildings. At the rear of every building 
hereafter erected for or converted to the 
purposes of a lodging house on any 
lot, there shall be and remain a clear 
open space of not less than ten feet be- 
tween it and the rear end of the lot. No 
one continuous building hereafter constructed 
shall be built or converted to the purposes 
of a lodging house in The City of New York, 
upon an ordinary city lot, and no existing 
lodging house shall be enlarged or altered, 
or its lot be diminished, so that it shall 
occupy more than sixty-five per centum of 
the area of said lot, but where the light and 
ventilation of such lodging house are, in the 
opinion of the superintendent of buildings, 
materially improved, he may permit suck 
tenement or lodging house to occupy an area 
not exceeding seventy-five per centum of the 
said lot, and in the same proportion if the 
lot be greater or less in size that twenty- 
five by one hundred feet; but this provision 
shall not apply to corner lots, in which, how- 
ever, no such building hereafter constructed, 
above the first story, shall occupy more than 
ninety-two per centum of the area of a lot, 
and no such building shall come within five 
feet of the rear of said lot, provided, further, 
that in all cases, both for corner and interior 
lots, the interior courts or shafts shall not 
be less than two feet four inches wide at 
their narrowest parts. In computing the 
amount of the lot covered by a building, any 
shaft or court of less than twenty-five squar* 


138 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


feet In area shall be considered as part of 
the building and not as part of the free air 
space. No shaft or court, over ten 
square feet In area, hereafter constructed 
In a lodging house, except elevator 
shafts or staircase wells, shall be cov- 
ered with a roof, skylight or otherwise. 
The light and ventilation of all buildings 
hereafter erected for, or converted to the 
purpose of lodging houses, must be provided 
In accordance with the requirements of this 
title, and the conditions of a plan acd per- 
mit previously approved In writing by the 
bureau of buildings, and no existing lodging 
house shall be enlarged or altered or its lot 
diminished without a similar permit. The 
bureau of buildings is hereby empowered apd 
directed to make rules and regulations not 
inconsistent with the requirements of this 
title, and which, in addition to the require- 
ments of this title, shall be the conditions 
of approval of the plans and permits; the 
rules and regulations shall govern the ar- 
rangement and distribution of the uncov- 
ered area, size, lighting, location and ar- 
rangement of shafts, rooms, cellars and halls. 
In case of any violation of the provisions of 
this section, or of any failure to comply 
with, or of any violation of the terms and 
conditions of the plan for such lodging houce 
approved by the bureau of buildings, 
or of the conditions of the permits granted 
as hereinbefore provided, or for the air, 
light and ventilation of the said house, or 
premises, any court of record, or any judge 
or justice thereof shall have power, at any 
time after service of notice of violation, 
or of non-compliance, upon the owner, build- 
er or other person superintending the build- 
ing or converting any such house, upon 
proof by affidavit of any violation or non- 
compliance as aforesaid, or that a plan for 
light and ventilation of such house has not 
been approved by the bureau of buildings, 
to restrain by injunction order, in any action 
by the bureau of buildings, or by the board 
of health, the further progress of any vio- 
lation as aforesaid. No undertaking shall 
be required as a condition of granting an in- 
junction, or by reason thereof. 

Dimensions and ventilation of rooms. 

Sec. 1316. In every such house hereafter 
erected or converted every habitable room, 
except rooms in the attic, shall be in every 
part not less than eight feet in height from 
the floor to the ceiling; and every habitable 
room in the attic of any such building shall 
be at least eight feet in height from the 
floor to the ceiling, throughout not less than 
one-half the area of such room. Every such 
room shall have at least one window con- 
necting with the external air, or over the 
door a ventilator of perfect construction, 
connecting it with a room or hall which has 
a connection with the external air, and so 
arranged as to produce a cross-current of 
air. The total area of window or windows 
in every room communicating with the ex- 
ternal air shall be at least one-tenth of the 
superficial area of every such room; and 
the top of one, at least, of such windows 
shall not be less than seven feet six inches 
above the floor, and the upper half, at least, 
shall be made so as to open the full width. 
Every habitable room of a less area than one 
hundred superficial feet. If it does not com- 
municate dlFectly with the external air, and 
is without an open fireplace, shall be pro- 
vided with special means of ventilation, by 
a separate air shaft extending to tlje roof, 
or otherwise, as the board of^iealth may pre- 


Penalties for violations of provisions. 

Sec. 1317. Every owner or other person vio- 
lating any piovision of this title shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine 
of not less than ten dollars or more than one 
hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not 
more than ten days for each and every day 
that such violation shall continue, or by both 
such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion 
of the court. He shall also be liable to pay a 
penalty of ten dollars for each day that such 
offense shall continue. Such penalty may be 
sued for and recovered by the department of 
health in any civil tribunal of said city, and 
when recovered shall be paid over to the 
chamberlain. In every proceeding for a vio- 
lation of this title, and in every such action 
for a penalty, it shall be the duty of the 
owner of the house to prove the date of its 
erection, or conversion to its existing use, 
if that fact shall become material, and the 
owner shall be. prima facie the person liable 
to pay such penalty, and after him the person 
who is the lessee of the whole house in 
preference to the tenant or lessee of 
a part thereof. In any such action 
the owner, lessee, and occupant, or any 
two of them, may be made defendants, 
and judgment may be given against the one 
or more shown to be liable, as if he or they 
were sole defendant or defendants. No part 
of chapter two hundred and seventy-five of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-two, 
or of any other act shall be so construed as 
to abrogate or impair the power of the de- 
partment of health to sue for and recover 
such a penalty whether the liability to pay 
said penalty shall arise from a violation of 
the laws, or ordinances or sections of the 
sanitary code, in regard to light, ventilation, 
plumbing and drainage, so far as the same 
affects the sanitary condition of the premises; 
and except that the bureau of buildings shall 
have jurisdiction and cognizance over all 
matters and things in this title contained 
which relate to the construction or alteration 
of buildings or structures, or any part there- 
of, and as to light, ventilation, drainage and 
plumbing of such buildings when in process 
of construction or alteration. Any penalty 
herein above mentioned for a violation of the 
provisions of this title, in respect to the mat- 
ter aforesaid, within the jurisdiction and cog- 
nizance of the bureau of buildings, shall be 
sued for and recovered in the same manner 
as the violations of the building laws of The 
City of New r York are now sued for and re- 
covered by the bureau of buildings, and said 
penalty so collected shall be paid to the cham- 
berlain of The City of New York to be applied 
as other penalties collected by said .depart- 
ment are applied. 

Power of bureau of buildings and of 
board of bealtb to make other regu- 
lations relative to lodging-houses. 

Sec. 1318. The bureau of buildings shall have 
authority to make other regulations as to 
light and ventilation of all new lodging 
houses consistent with the foregoing, when 
it shall be satisfied that such regulations 
will secure equally weil the health and safe- 
ty of the occupants; likewise the board of 
health shall have authority to make other 
regulations as to cellars and as to ventila- 
tion in completed lodging houses, consistent 
with the foregoing, where it shall be satis- 
fied that such regulations will secure equally 
well the health of the occupants. The board 
of health shall have power to appoint all the 
officers and agents of the department of 
health, of whatever name or chargfter soever, 
and shall have exclusive charge and conWol 
of, and the exercise of, >*J th? rljlT", poxfP' 


duties and privileges of said department, and 
for this purpose the terms “board of health” 
and “department of health," as used in this 
chapter, shall be deemed synonymous. 

TITLE 8. 

THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT PENSION 
FUND. 

Board of trustees of health department 

4 

peusion fund. 

Sec. 1319. The board of health of the health 
department of The City of New York is hereby 
constituted, and shall be a board of trustees 
of the health department pension fund here- 
tofore, and herein, authorized and provided 
for. The members of said board of health 
shall annually choose one of their number 
to be chairman of the board of trustees of the 
health department pension fund, and shall 
from time to time elect a secretary. Immedi- 
ately upon organization, said board of trus- 
tees shall receive and have charge of tlio 
pension fund, or funds heretofore authorized, 
and in existence lu any health department, 
municipality or county, forming a part of The 
City of New York, provided for officers, phy- 
sicians, and employes in the health depart- 
ment service, and such board of trustees shall 
have charge of, and administer the pension 
fund authorized and provided for herein. 
From time to time the said board of trustees 
shall invest the said pension fund or any 
part thereof, as it shall deem most benefi- 
cial to the fund. Said board is empowered 
to make all necessary contracts and take all 
necessary and proper actions and proceedings 
in the premises, and to make payment from 
said fund oi pensions granted in pursuance 
of this act. The said trustees shall, from 
time to time, establish such rules and regu- 
lations for the administration of thp said 
fund as they may deem best. They shall re- 
port in detail to the mayor of The City of 
New York annually in the month of Janu- 
ary,. the condition of said fund and the items 
of their receipts and disbursements on ac- 
count of the same: No payments whatever 
shall be allowed to, or made by, such trus- 
tees as reward, gratuity or compensation to 
any person for salary or services rendered to, 
or for, said board of trustees. 

What moneys shall he included in pen- 
sion fund. 

Sec. 1320. The health department pension 
fund shall consist of; 

1. All moneys paid for searches and 
transcripts of the records of births, mar- 
riages and deaths, or other papers of said 
department of health. 

2. All moneys collected from fines and pen- 
alties for violations of the sanitary code or 
health laws in The City of New York. 

3. All said moneys, including the fines and 
penalties directed in section twelve hundred 
and twenty-two of this act, to be paid to the 
comptroller shall, within thirty days after 
collection of payment, be paid over by the 
department, officers, clerks, magistrates and 
courts receiving and collecting the same to 
the said board of trustees of the health de- 
partment pension fund. 

Pension for physician or employe dis- 
abled by reason of performance of 

duty. 

Sec. 1321. The board of trustees of said 
fund shall have power to grant as pension to 
any physician or employe in the health de- 
partment of The City of New York, who shall, 
as a consequence of the actual performance 
of his duty, and without any fault or miscon- 
duct on his part, have become permanently 
disabled physical'.;^ r mentally, so rs to ta 


TIIE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


139 


unfit to perform full duty, a sum not to ex- 
ceed one-half, nor less than one-fourth of his 
rate of compensation per annum as such phy- 
sician or employe, as the case may be. 

Pensions to personal representatives 

o < physician or employe who shall 

die from disease or Injuries suffered 

la consequence of ills performance o f 

duty. 

Sec. 1322. Whenever such physician or em- 
ploye shall die while in the service of tue 
health department from disease contracted 
or injuries sustained by him as a consequence 
of the actual performance of his duty, with- 
out any fault or misconduct on his part, leav- 
ing a widow, the said board of trustees or 
said pension fund may grant, award or pay 
to the widow of said physician or employe the 
sum of three hundred dollars annually, during 
her life, so long as she remains a widow; and 
if there be no widow of any such physician or 
employe, but he shall leave minor children 
under eighteen surviving him, then said three 
hundred dollars may be given, awarded and 
paid to said children under eighteen years of 
age. 

Certificate required la certain cases. 

Sec. 1323. No physician or employe, as 
aforesaid, of the health department, shall be 
awarded, granted »or paid a pension on 
account of physical or mental disability or 
disease, unless upon certificate and re- 
port of a board of physicians, to be 
appointed by the board of health, which 
6hall set forth the cause, nature and extent 
of the disability, disease or injury of such 
physician or employe, who may be placed 
on the pension roll, and such certificate shall 
distinctly state whether or not such disabil- 
ity, disease or injury was incurred or sus- 
tained by such physician or employe while 
in the performance of his duties as such 
physician or employe of the health depart- 
ment, and such certificate shall, in such case, 
be filed with, and entered upon the minutes 
of the board of health. 

Pension for twenty years’ service. 

Sec. 1323a. Any physician or employe who 
has or shall have performed duty as such 
physician or employe in any department of 
health In The City of New York, for a period 
of twenty years, or upward, upon his own 
application, in writing, or upon a certificate 
and report of a board of physicians, ap- 
pointed by the board of health, certifying 
that such physician or employe is perma- 
nently disabled, so as to be unfit for fur- 
ther duty as such physician or employe, shall 
be retired from active service by resolution 
of the board of health of the health depart- 
ment of The City of New York, and placed 
upon the health department pension roll, and 
thereupon shall be awarded, granted and paid 
from said health department pension fund by 
the trustees thereof, an annual sum during 
his lifetime not exceeding one-half the ordin- 
ary full pay of a physician or employe in the 
health department service, of the rank of the 
physician or employe so retired, provided, 
however, that no pension granted under this 
or the preceding sections, shall exceed the 
sum of twelve hundred dollars per annum. 
Pensions granted under this section shall be 
for the natural life of the person receiving 
the same, and shall not be revoked, repealed 
or diminished. In determining the term of 
service of any such physician or employe, un- 
der this section, service in former health de- 
partments or board of health having jurisdic- 
tion in matters of public health in any part 
of The City of New York, as constituted by 
this act, shall be counted and held to be 
service in the department of health of The 
City c; N *v Y *]■;. 


Order of discontinuance of pension in 
certain cases. 

Sec. 1324. The board of health may, In its 
discretion, order any pension granted or any 
part thereof to cease, except as provided in 
the last preceding section* but in all such 
cases the said board of health, shall file with 
the board of trustees of the health depart- 
ment pension fund, a written statement of 
the causes determining the action of the said 
board of health in ordering any pension to 
so cease; and nothing in this act or in any 
other act, shall render the granting or pay- 
ment of such pension obligatory on the board 
of health, or upon the trustees of the health 
department pension fund, or chargeable as a 
matter of right upon said fund, except as 
provided in the last preceding section. 

Till* chapter a remedial statute; con- 
struction. 

Sec. 1325. This chapter is hereby declared 
to be a remedial statute and is to be con- 
strued liberally to secure the beneficial in- 
terests and purposes thereof. Nothing herein 
contained shall be construed to affect any 
suit or proceeding now pending in any court, 
or any rights acquired or liability incurred, 
or any cause or causes of action accrued or 
existing, whether for a penalty or otherwise, 
under any act repealed or amended by this 
act. Wherever the bureau of buildings is 
referred to in this chapter the provisions 
relating thereto shall be held to apply to 
such bureau as established by the president 
of any borough within the borough, or to said 
president of a borough when no such bureau 
has been established hy him. All acts and 
parts of acts in conflict with this chapter 
or any part thereof are hereby repealed. 

TITLE 8. 

CHAPTER XIXa. 

TENEMENT HOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
Title 1. Organization of department; officers 
and employes. 

2. Powers and duties of departn?e?t 

3. Records and reports; miscellane- 

ous provisions. 

TITLE 1. 

ORGANIZATION OF DEPARTMENT) 
BUREAUS; OFFICERS AND EMPLOYES. 
Department created; tenement bouse 
commissioner. 

Sec. 1326 The head of the tenement 
house department shall be called the tene- 
ment house commissioner. Re shall be ap- 
pointed by the mayor, and shall hold office 
as provided in chapter four of this act. His 
salary shall be seven thousand five hundred 
dollars a year. 

Deputy commissioner. 

Sec. 1327. The commissioner shall have 
power to appoint and in his discretion to 
remove not more than two deputies, to be 
known as first deputy, and second deputy, 
and shall define their duties. The first, 
deputy shall during the absence or disability 
of the commissioner possess all the powers 
and perform all the duties of the commis- 
sioner except rhe power of making appoint- 
ments. In the absence or disability of both 
the commissioner and the first deputy, the 
second deputy shall possess all the powers 
and perform all the duties of the commis- 
sioner, except the power of making appoint- 
ments. 

The salaries of such deputies shall be four 
thousand dollars a year each. 

Dureaua; divisions of department for 
Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond. 

Sec. 1328. There shall be in the tenement 

hot;;.' qerar'mer.t (lla raw t; T.2i.;s bo. „j- 


(2) an inspection bureau; (3) a bureau of rec- 
ords; and such other bureaus as the commis- 
sioner may deem necessary. 

A separate division of the department may 
be established in the borough of Brooklyn, 
with jurisdiction over tenement houses in the 
borough of Brooklyn, and also in the discre- 
tion of the commissioner over tenement 
houses in the boroughs of Queens or Rich- 
mond, or both. The commissioner tnwy* desig- 
nate the deputy commissioner or some other 
officer of the department as the executive 
head of such division, who shall perform such 
duties and possess such powers as may be 
delegated to him by the commissioner. A 
branch of each of the bureaus above specified 
may be established in such division. 

Officers and employes. 

Sec. 1329. The tenement house commission- 
er, within the limits of his appropriation, 
shall have power to appoint and remove, sub- 
ject to the requirements of the civil service 
laws, such subordinate officers, assistants 
and employes as may be necessary for the 
efficient performance of his duties as said 
commissioner. 

In the new building bureau there shall be 
not less than three plan examiners and not 
less than sixteen inspectors of light and ven- 
tilation. In the inspection bureau there shall 
be not less than one hundred and ninety 
inspectors, including such persons as may be 
detailed by the police commissioner for serv- 
ice in the tenement house department. The 
commissioner shall appoint a chief inspector 
and deputy chief Inspector over such bureau. 
In the other bureaus there shall be such reg- 
istrars, clerks and employes as are necessary 
to perform the duties thereof. 

All such officers and employes shall be sub- 
ject to the supervision and control of the 
commissioner, and shall perform such duties 
as are assigned by him. Such commissioner 
may make regulations governing each such 
bureau, and branch thereof, not inconsistent 
with law. 

Doties of boreaos. 

Sec. 1330. The new building bureau shall 
file, record and examine plans and specifica- 
tions for the light and ventilation of tene- 
ment houses hereafter altered or erected, 
and of buildings to be altered or reconstruct- 
ed for use as tenement houses. It shall in- 
spect all such houses and buildings in the 
course of construc’ion or alteration, and re- 
cord all violations of the tenement house 
act in respect thereto. 

The inspection bureau shall Inspect all 
completed tenement houses, and record all 
violations of the tenement house laws and 
ordinances.- The commissioner shall pre- 
scribe the duties of the inspectors connected 
with such bureau, and may assign them to 
such part of the city as he may deem best. 

The bureau of records shall contain rec- 
ords of every tenement house In the city, to 
be kept in the manner and form prescribed 
by the commissioner. 

Such other bureaus as may be organized 
by the commissioner -shall perform the duties 
prescribed by him, and he may assign thereto 
such employes as may be hecessary. 

Office* and expenses. 

Sec. 1331. The commissioner may provide 
offices for the use of the department, its 
bureaus and the branches thereof. Such 
commissioner may, subject to the other pro- 
visions of this act, make such incidental and 
additional expenditures, having due regard 
to economy, as the purposes and provisions 
of this chapter may require. Any employe, 
for any neglect of duty, or omission to proper- 
ly prr'erni his duty. .i>-. i n cl rale- n? 




THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW 


140 


neglect or disobedience of orders, or in- 
capacity, or absence without leave, may be 
punished by the commissioner by forfeiting 
and withholding pay for a specified time, or 
by suspension from duty with or without pay; 
but this provision shall not be deemed to 
abridge the right of said commissioner to 
remove or dismiss any inspector or other 
subordinate from the service of the depart- 
ment at any time in his discretion. — As 
, amended by Laws of 1903, Chapter 439. 

Seal. 

Sec. 1332. The commissioner may design 
and a^opt a seal for the department, and 
cause the same to be used in the authentica- 
tion of the orders and proceedings of the 
department, and for such other purposes 
aG he may prescribe. The courts shall take 
judicial notice of such seal, and of the sig- 
nature of the commissioner and deputy com- 
missioner of such department. 

Aiinnnl report. 

Sec. 1333. The commissioner shall make 
an annual report at some time prior to the 
first day of March of each year to the mayor 
of The City of New York of all the operations 
•f his department for the year ending on 
the preceding thirty-first day of December. 
Such report shall, if ordered by the mayor, 
be published in the City Record, and shall 
also be published in book form for public 
information. The mayor may, at any time, 
call for a fuller report, or for a report upon 
any portion of the work of said department, 
whenever he deems it for the public good so 
to do. 

Publication of statistics and other 

data. 

Sec. 1334. The commissioner may provide 
for the publicity of the papers, files, reports, 
records and the proceedings of his depart- 
ment, whenever he deems it necessary for 
the public good and public service. There 
shall be kept in such department statistics 
of all tenement houses, which shall be con- 
tained in the annual report of such depart- 
ment. 

Uniforms and badges. 

Sec. 1335. The commissioner may provide or 
designate a suitable uniform to be worn by 
Inspectors. He may also provide a badge 
of metal, with a suitable inscription thereon, 
and require it to be worn by the inspectors 
and officers of the department. 

Reports of inspectors. 

Sec. 1336. Each of such inspectors shall 
report in writing, at least once in each week, 
to the commissioner. The form, manner and 
scope of such reports shall be prescribed by 
the commissioner. Such reports shall be filed 
in the departmeat. 

Proofs, affidavits and oatbs. 

Sec. 1337. Proofs, affidavits and examina- 
tions as to any matter arising in connection 
with the performance of any of the duties 
of the tenement house department may be 
taken by or before the tenement house 
commissioner, or his deputy, or such other 
person as he may designate; and such com- 
missioner, deputy or other person may ad- 
minister oaths in connection therewith. 
Complaint book. 

Sec. 1338. The commissioner shall cause to 
be kept in his department a general com- 
plaint book, or several such books, in which 
may be entered by any person any complaint 
in reference to tenement houses, with the 
name and residence of the complainant, the 
name of the person complained of, the date 
Of the entry of the complaint and sugges- 


tions of any proper remedy. Such book shall 
be open to public examination during the 
office hours of the department, subject to 
such regulations as the commissioner may 
prescribe. The tenement house commission- 
er shall cause the facts in regard to all 
complaints to be investigated. 

Attorneys. 

Sec. 1339. The corporation counsel shall 
assign to such department such assistant 
counsel as may be needful, in the manner 
provided by chapter seven of this act. 

TITLE 2. 

POWERS AND DUTIES OF DEPART- 
MENT. 

General powers and duties. 

Sec. 1340. All the rights and powers 
possessed by the health department of The 
City of New York with respect to the sani- 
tary inspection of tenement houses are here- 
by conferred upon the tenement house de- 
partment; and the tenement house depart- 
ment is hereby charged with the duty of en- 
forcing all the provisions of the tenement 
house act. The names of owners, lessees 
and agents, and persons having control of 
tenement houses shall be filed in, and the 
taxpayers’ request that the institution of an 
action for a lien upon a tenement house shall 
be presented to the tenement house depart- 
ment instead of to the department of health. 
Nothing herein contained shall abrogate or 
impair the existing powers of the depart- 
ment of health of The City of New York. 
The tenement house department shall have 
the powers and shall perform the duties spe- 
cified in this chapter.— As amended by Laws 
of 1903, Chapter 439. 

Transfer of powers of other depart- 
ments. 

Sec. 1341. Such rights, powers and duties 
as are now possessed by the fire department 
and police department of The City of New 
lork with respect to the prevention of incum- 
brance or obstruction of fire escapes on ten- 
ement houses are hereby transferred to and 
conferred upon the tenement house depart- 
ment. All rights, powers and duties now 
possessed by the department of buildings and 
the department of health of The City of New 
York with respect to the light and ventila- 
tion of tenement houses, and with respect 
to the equipment of completed tenement 
houses with fire escapes, are transferred to 
and conferred upon the tenement house de- 
partment. 

Infected and uninhabitable bouses to 

be vacated by department. 

Sec. 1341a. Whenever it shall be certified 
by an inspector or officer of the department 
that a tenement house, or any part thereof, 
is infected with contagious disease, or that 
it is unfit for human habitation or dangerous 
to life or health by reason of want of repair, 
or of defects in the drainage, plumbing, 
ventilation, or the construction of the same, 
or by reason of the existence on the premises 
of a nuisance likely to cause sickness among 
the occupants of said house, the department 
may issue an order requiring all persons 
therein to vacate such house, or part 
thereof, within not less than twenty- 
four hours nor more than ten days for 
the reasons to be mentioned in said order. 
This order may be served in the manner 
prescribed in the tenement house act. In 
case such order is not complied with within 
the time specified, the department may cause 
said tenement house, or part thereof, to be 
vacated. The department whenever it is 
satisfied that the danger from said house, or 


YORK. 


part thereof, has ceased to exist, or that it 
is fit for human habitation, may revoke said 
order, or may extend the time within which 
to comply with the same. — Added by Laws 
of 1903, Chapter 439. 

Repairs to buildings, etc. 

Sec. 1341b. Whenever any tenement house, 
or any building, structure, excavation, busi- 
ness pursuit, matter or thing, in or about 
a tenement house or the lot on which it is 
situated, or the plumbing, sewerage, drain- 
age, light or ventilation thereof, is in the 
opinion of the department in a condition or in 
effect dangerous or detrimental to life or 
health, the department may declare that the 
same, to the extent it may specify, is a 
public nuisance, and may order the same to be 
removed, abated, suspended, altered or other- 
wise improved or purified, as the order shall 
specify. The department may order or cause 
any tenement house, or part thereof, or any 
excavation, building, structure, sewer, plumb- 
ing, pipe, passage, premises, ground, matter 
or thing, in or about a tenement house, or the 
lot on which it is situated, to be purified, 
cleansed, disinfected, removed, altered, re- 
paired or improved. Any order of the depart- 
ment may be served in the manner provided 
in the tenement house act. If any order 
of the department is not complied with, or so 
far complied with as the department may re- 
gard as reasonable, within five days after 
the service thereof, or within such shorter 
time as the department may designate, then 
such order may be executed by said depart- 
ment through its officers, agents, employes or 
contractors. Every person who shall violate 
or assist in the violation of any requirement 
of any notice or order of the department shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall in 
addition to the punishment therefor be subject 
to a civil penalty of two hundred and fifty 
dollars, to be sued for and recovered in any 
civil tribunal in the city. The department may 
also in any action or proceeding, or after 
issuing any order, or notice, file a notice of 
lis pendens to have the effect provided in the 
code of civil procedure. Neither said de- 
partment nor any officer thereof, nor The 
City of New York, shall be liable for costs in 
any such action or proceeding. The powers 
conferred upon the department by this section 
and the preceding section shall be in addi- 
tion to the powers already conferred upon 
said department and shall not be construed 
as limiting them in any way. — Added by 
laws of 1903, Chapter 439. 

Approval of plans an«l specifications 

for light and ventilation. 

Sec. 1342. Before the construction or altera- 
tion of a tenement house, or the alteration 
or conversion of a building for use as a 
tenement house, is commenced, the owner, 
or his agent or architect, shall submit to the 
tenement house department a detailed state- 
ment in writing, verified by the person mak- 
ing the same, of the specifications for the 
light and ventilation of such tenement house 
or building, upon a blank or form to be fur- 
nished by such department, and also a full 
and complete copy of the plans of such 
work. Such statement shall give in full 
the name and residence, by street and num- 
ber, of the owner or owners of sue v tenement 
house or building. If such construction, al- 
teration, or conversion, is proposed to be 
made by any other person than the owner 
of the land in fee, such statement shall con- 
tain the full name and residence, by street 
and number, not only of the owner of the . 
land, but of every person interested in such 
tenement house, either as owner, lessee or 
in any representative capacity. The state- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


141 


ments herein provided for may be made by 
the owner, or the person who proposes to 
make the construction, alteration or conver- 
sion, or by his agent or architect. No per- 
son, however, shall he recognized as the 
agent of the owner, unless he shall file with 
the tenement house department a written 
instrument, signed by such owner, designat- 
ing him as such agent. Such specifications, 
plans and statements shall be filed in the of- 
fice of the tenement house department and 
shall be deemed public records, but no such 
specifications, plans or statements shall be 
removed from said department. 

The commissioner shall cause all such 
plans and specifications to be examined. If 
such plans and specifications conform to the 
provisions of the tenement house act, they 
shall be approved by such commissioner, and 
a written certificate to that effect shall be 
issued to the person submitting the same. 
The commissioner may, from time to time, 
approve changes in any plans and specifica- 
tions previously approved by him. provided 
the plans and specifications when so changed 
shall be in conformity with law. 

The construction, alteration or conversion 
of such tenement house or building, or any 
part thereof, shall not be commenced until 
the filing of such specifications, plans and 
statements, and the approval thereof by the 
tenement house commissioner, as above pro- 
vided. 

No permit shall be granted and no plan 
approved by the bureau of buildings of any 
borough of the city of New York for the con- 
struction or alteration of a tenement house, 
or for the alteration or conversion of any 
building for use as a tenement house, until 
there has been filed in such bureau of build- 
ings a certificate of the tenement house com- 
missioner, issued as above provided. 

Inspection of tenement lionses in 

course of construction. 

Sec. 1343. The commissioner shall cause an 
inspection and examination to be made of 
all tenement houses in the course of construc- 
tion or alteration, and also of all buildings 
in course of alteration or conversion for use 
as tenement houses, for the purpose of ascer- 
taining whether such tenement houses or 
buildings are being constructed altered and 
converted in conformity with the law, and 
the plans and specifications on file in the 
office of the department, and approved by the 
commissioner. 

Certificate to owner of tenement house 

hereafter erected or altered. 

Sec. 1344. No building hereafter constructed 
as or altered into a tenement house shall 
be occupied in whole or in part for human 
habitation, until the issuance of a certificate 
by the tenement house commissioner that 
said building conforms in all respects to the 
provisions of the tehement house act. Such 
certificate shall be Issued within ten days 
after written application therefor, if said 
building at the date of such application shall 
be entitled thereto. If any building hereafter 
constructed as or altered into a tenement 
house be occupied in whole or in part for hu- 
man habitation without such certificate, dur- 
ing such unlawful occupation any bond or note 
secured by a mortgage upon said building, 
or the lot upon which it stands, may be de- 
clared due at the option of the mortgagee. 
No rent shall be recoverable by the owner or 
lessee of such premises for said period, and 
no action or special proceeding shall be main- 
tained therefor, or for possession of said 
premises for non-payment of such rent. The 
department of water supply shall not permit 
water to be furnished in any such tenement 
house, and said premises shall be deemed un- 
fit for human habitation, and the tenement 


house commissioner shall cause them to be 
vacated accordingly. — As amended by Laws of 
1903, Chapter 439. 

Inspection of completed tenement 

lionses. 

Sec. 1344a. Except as hereinafter other- 
wise provided, the tenement house commis- 
sioner shall cause an inspection of every com- 
pleted tenement house in the city to be made 
at least once in each month. Such inspection 
shall include examination of cellars, halls, 
water-closets, privies, plumbing, yards, areas, 
fire escapes, roofs, shafts, courts, tanks and 
all other parts of such tenement houses and 
the premises connected therewith. In tene- 
ment houses where the average rental of the 
apartments therein is twenty-five dollars a 
month or more, such inspection may be made 
less often than once a month, as above pro- 
vided, in the discretion of the tenement house 
commissioner. The tenement house commis- 
sioner shall prescribe the manner in which 
such inspections shall be made. 

The inspectors shall immediately report to 
the tenement house department all violations 
of the tenement house act, and the tenement 
house commissioner shall issue such orders 
as he may deem necessary requiring the re- 
moval of the defect or the cessation of the 
act which is in violation of such law. 

Injunctions, when to be granted 

against the department. 

Sec. 1344b. No preliminary injunction shall 
be granted against the tenement house de- 
partment or its officers except by the su- 
preme court, at a special term thereof, afler 
service of at least five days’ notice of the 
motion for such injunction, together with 
copies of the papers upon which the motion 
for such injunction is to be made. Whenever 
such department shall seek any provisional 
remedy or shall prosecute an appeal, it shall 
not be necessary, before obtaining or prose- 
cuting the same, to give an undertaking. 
Power of attorney for the department. 

Sec. 1344c. The counsel assigned by the cor- 
poration counsel to the tenement house de- 
partment shall sue for and collect all penal- 
ties, and take charge of and conduct all legal 
proceedings imposed or provided by this 
chapter, or by the tenement house act, and 
all other tenement house laws, regulations 
and ordinances. All suits or proceedings in- 
stituted for the enforcement of the several 
provisions of this chapter, or for the recov- 
ery of penalties imposed by the tenement 
house act, shall be brought in the name of 
the tenement house department of The City 
of New York, by such counsel. The penalties 
recovered shall be paid to such counsel. He 
shall on the first of each month render to the 
commissioner an itemized statement of all 
moneys collected by him, and pay over the 
same to the tenement house commissioner. 
He shall at the same time render a statement 
of the necessary disbursements incurred or 
paid in the prosecution or the actions and 
proceedings instituted by him. The tenement 
house commissioner shall pay monthly the 
amount of such moneys so collected to the 
comptroller of The City of New York. 

No personal liability. 

Sec. 1344d. An officer or employe of the 
tenement house department shall not be 
liable for acts done by him, in good 
faith, in the performance of his official duties, 
pursuant to the direction of the commissioner 
or the rules and regulations of the depart- 
ment. Any person whose property has been 
unjustly or illegally destroyed or injured pur- 
suant to the order, regulation or ordinance 
of such tenement house department, or Its 
officers or employes, for which no personal 


liability exists as aforesaid, may maintain a 
proper action against the city for the recov- 
ery of the proper compensation or damage. 
Every such suit shall be brought within six 
months after the cause of action arose, and 
the recovery shall be limited to the damages 
suffered. 

Right of entry of officers of depart- 
ment. 

Sec. 1344e. The tenement house commis- 
sioner and his deputies and all inspectors of 
the tenement house department, and such 
other persons as are authorized by the com- 
missioner. may without fee or hindrance en- 
ter, examine and survey all premises, 
grounds, erections, structures, apartments, 
buildings and every part thereof in the city, 
and all cellars and passages of every sort, 
and inspect the safety and sanitary condition, 
and make plans, drawings and descriptions 
thereof, according to the regulations of the 
department. The owner or his agent or rep- 
resentative and the lessee or occupant of 
every tenement house or part thereof, and 
every person having the care and manage- 
ment thereof, shall at all times, when re- 
quired by any of such officers or persons, give 
them free access to such house and every 
part thereof. 

Punishment for false returns and de- 
ceptive reports. 

Sec. 1344f. Any inspector, officer or employe 
of such tenement house department who shall 
knowingly make thereto a false or deceptive 
report or statement in connection with his 
duties, or shall accept or receive any bribe 
or other compensation as a condition of or 
an inducement for not faithfully discovering 
or fully reporting or otherwise acting in ac- 
cordance with his duty in any respect, or 
shall accept or receive any gratuity from any 
person whose interests may be affected by his 
official action, shall be guilty of a misde- 
meanor and punishable by imprisonment for 
not more than one year and by a fine of not 
more than five hundred dollars. If such offi- 
cer, inspector or employe be convicted of 
such offense, he shall forfeit his office, and in 
addition all compensation due or to become 
due from such department. 

Falsely personating an officer. 

Sec. 1344g. If any person, not an officer, in- 
spector or employe of such department, or 
acting under the authority thereof, falsely 
represents himself as such, or if any such 
person shall use, wear or display, without 
authority, any shield or other insignia or 
emblem such as is worn by such an officer, 
inspector' or employe, he shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor. 

Application of provisions of chapter 

nineteen. 

Sec. 1344h. The provisions of chapter nine- 
teen of this charter, relative to the depart- 
ment of health, which provides: 

1. For the repair of buildings, as contained 
in section eleven hundred and seventy-one 
of such chapter. 

2. For proceedings relative to dangerous 
and improperly constructed buildings, as con- 
tained in section eleven hundred and seventy- 
six thereof. 

3. For assistance and co-operation of the 
police department, as contained in section 
twelve hundred and two thereof. 

4. Punishment for violations of orders and 
the service of such orders, as contained in 
sections twelve hundred and twenty-two and 
twelve hundred and twenty-four thereof. 

5. For legal proceedings and punishment 


14 ? 


THE CHARTER OF THE CTTY OF NEW YORE. 


for disobedience of orders and ordinances, 
as contained in title four thereof. 

6. For reimbursements and lien of ex- 
penses incurred by such department in the 
execution of its orders as contained in title 
five thereof. 

7. For suits for the abatement or removal 
of nuisances, and for proceedings, and the 
powers and duties of such department in re- 
spect to such nuisances, as contained in title 
six thereof; and the definition of the word 
“nuisance” and other matters in respect 
thereto, as contained in sections twelve hun- 
dred and twenty-nine, twelve hundred and 
ninety-nine and thirteen hundred thereof, 
■hall apply to the supervision and regula- 
tion of tenement houses by the tenement 
house department, its officers, agents and 
employes, unless otherwise specified in, or 
inconsistent with, the provisions of this chap- 
ter. All the provisions of the sections and 
titles above specified shall be so applicable 
to such tenement house department, its of- 
ficers, agents and employes. 

TITLE 3. 

RECORDS AND REPORTS; MISCEL- 
LANEOUS PROVISIONS. 

Records in department. 

Sec. 13441. The tenement house commission- 
er shall provide a system for keeping the 
records of tenement houses by card cata- 
logue and street number, or otherwise. Such 
records shall include: 

1. A diagram of each tenement house, 
showing the shape of the building, its width 
and depth, also the measurements of the un- 
occupied area, showing shafts, courts, yards 
and other open spaces. Such diagram shall 
include a diagram of the second or typical 
floor of the building, showing the sizes and 
arrangement of the rooms, and all doors, 
stairs, windows, halls and partitions. 

2. A statement of the date or the approxi- 
mate date when the building was erected. 

3. The deaths occurring in the tenement 
house during each year and the annual death 
rate therein. Such statement shall show 
whether such deaths were of adults or chil- 
dren, and, if occasioned by tuberculosis, ty- 
phoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, small- 
pox, measles, or by any other contagious or 
infectious disease, it shall state the disease 
causing death. 

4. The cases of sickness from contagious 
diseases occurring in the tenement house 
and the nature of the disease. Such record 
shall also show whether such cases of sick- 
ness were of children or adults. — Amended 
by Chapter 430, Laws of 1903. 

Reports from different institntions 

and departments. 

Sec. 1344J. All dispensaries and hospitals in 
The City of New York shall make weekly 
statements to the tenement house depart- 
ment as to the cases of sickness received in 
such hospital or treated in such dispensary 
from each tenement house. Such statement 
shall show the location of the tenement 
house, by street and number, from which 
the case was received, and the nature of the 
sickness treated, whether the patient was an 
adult or child and the date of the treatment. 

The police department of The City of New 
York shall fnrnish to the tenement house de- 
partment a weekly statement of the number 
of arreste of persons living in tenement 
houses, which shall show the location of the 
tenement house, by street and number, the 
offense with which the person is charged, the 
age and name of the offender, and such other 
Information as the tenement house depart- 


ment may require. The tenement house com- 
missioner shall prescribe and furnish blank 
forms for making such statements. 

Other reports to the department. 

Sec. 1344k. Such department may require 
reports and information of such facts rela- 
tive to the condition of persons residing in 
tenement housee, as the commissioner may 
deem to be useful in carrying out the pur- 
poses of this chapter and the tenement 
house laws, regulations and ordinances, from 
all dispensaries, hospitals, charitable or be- 
nevolent societies, infirmaries, prisons and 
schools, and from the managers, principals 
and officers thereof; the managers, principals 
and officers of such institutions shall prompt- 
ly give such information and make such re- 
ports, verbal or in writing, as may be re- 
quired by the commissioner. 

Transfer of property, etc., from other 

departments. 

Sec. 13441. Upon the organization of the 
tenement house department hereby created, 
and upon notice thereof from the tenement 
house commissioner to the department of 
health and department of buildings, such 
books, papers, records, and other matters be- 
longing to, or in the custody of, such depart- 
ments of health or buildings, and used in such 
departments in connection w-ith tenement 
houses, as the tenement house commissioner 
may require for carrying out the provisions 
of this chapter and the enforcement of the 
tenement house laws, regulations and ordi- 
nances, shall be transferred by such depart- 
ment of health and department of buildings 
to the tenement house department hereby 
created. 

Co-operation of other departments. 

Sec. 1344m. It shall be the duty of all city 
departments at all times, when requested 
so to do, to co-operate w T ith the tenement 
house department, and to furnish such de- 
partment with such information, reports and 
assistance as may be required. 

Details of men to assist tenement 

house department. 

Sec. 1344n. The police commissioner, upon 
the requisition of the tenement house com- 
missioner, shall detail to the service of said 
tenement house department for the purpose 
of the enforcement of the acts relating to 
tenement housee suitable officers and men of 
experience of at least five years’ service in 
the police force, provided that the number 
of officers and men so detailed shall not at 
any time exceed one hundred, and, provided 
further, that the tenement house department 
shall pay monthly to the police department a 
sum equal to the pay of all officers and men 
so detailed. These officers and men shall 
belong to the sanitary company of police, and 
shall report to the tenement house commis- 
sioner. In making such detail the police 
commissioner shall give preference to those 
officers and men who have belonged for not 
less than five years to the sanitary company 
of the police assigned to the department of 
health. All other officers and men so de- 
tailed shall, whenever the tenement house 
commissioner so requests, be selected from 
those who have passed a competitive civil 
service examination for their qualification 
for this service. The tenement house com- 
missioner may report back to the police de- 
partment for punishment any member of said 
company guilty of an/ breach of order or dis- 
cipline, or of neglecting his duty, and there- 
upon the police commissioner shall detail an- 


other officer or man in his place, and the dis- 
cipline of the members of the sanitary com- 
pany shall be in the jurisdiction of the police 
department, but at any time the tenement 
house commissioner may object to any mem- 
ber of said sanitary company on the ground 
of inefficiency, and thereupon another officer 
or man shall be detailed in his place. 

Definitions. 

Sec. 1344o. The term “department,” when 
used in this chapter, shall mean the tenement 
house department. The term “commission- 
er,” when used in this chapter, shall mean 
the tenement house commissioner. The 
term “tenement house,” when used in this 
chapter, shall be deemed to refer to a tene- 
ment house which i§ subject to the provisions 
of the New York tenement house act, and 
defined therein. 

Saving clause. 

Sec. 1344p. Nothing in this chapter shall 
affect or in any w T ay impair any act done 
or right accruing, accrued or acquired, 
or liability, penalty, forfeiture or 1 unish- 
ment incurred prior to the time this 
chapter takes effect, but the same may be 
asserted, enforced, prosecuted or inflicted, 
as fully and to the same extent as if the 
tenement house department had not been 
created, and the powers and duties of 
the department of health, the depart- 
ment of buildings, and the police depart- 
ment, in respect to tenement houses and 
the laws, rules and ordinances relating there- 
to had not been transferred to such tene- 
ment house department, as provided in this 
chapter. All actions and proceedings, civil 
or criminal, commenced under or by virtue 
of statutes creating and conferring powers 
and imposing duties on such department of 
health, department of buildings, and police 
department, ij» respect to tenement houses 
and for the enforcement of laws, rules and 
ordinances relative thereto, qnd pending im- 
mediately prior to the taking effect of this 
chapter, may be prosecuted and defended to 
final effect by the tenement house depart- 
ment in the same manner as they might by 
such department of health, department of 
buildings or police department, if this chap- 
ter had not been passed. All such actions 
and proceedings shall be prosecuted and de- 
fended in the name of the tenement house 
department. 

CHAPTER XX. 

INFERIOR LOCAL COURTS. 

Title 1. The city court of New York. 

Title 2. The municipal court of The City 
of New York. 

Title 3. Inferior courts ol criminal juris- 
diction 

Title 4. The marshals. 

Title 5. Interpreters. 

TITLE 1. 

THE CITY COURT OF NEW Y«*RK. 
The city conrt of New York, Continned. 

Sec. 1345. The city court shall be con- 
tinued, and said court and the justices there- 
of shall have the same powers and jurisdic- 
tion as are now conferred upon them by law; 
provided, how’ever, that in sections three 
hundred and thirty-eight, thirty-one hundred 
and sixty-five, thirty-one hundred and sixty- 
nine, thirty-one hundred and seventy, and 
thirty-two hundred and sixty-eight of the 
code of civil procedure the w’ord "city” shall 
be construed to mean and apply to the terri- 
tory within the city of New York as it ex- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


143 


lsted and was constituted prior to the first 
day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
eight. 

Id.; justices of the court. 

Sec. 1346. The justice of said city court in 
office when this act shall take effect shall 
continue to hold office until the expiration 
of their respective terms; but the successors 
of said justices shall be elected for and hold 
office for the period of ten years. 

TITLE 2. 

THE MUNICIPAL COURT OF THE CITY 
OF NEW YORK. 

Conrts, etc., abolished. 

Sec. 1350. From and after midnight of the 
thirty-first day of January, eighteen hundred 
and ninety-eight, the justices’ courts and the 
office of justice of the peace in the cities of 
Brooklyn and Long Island City are abol- 
ished, and all jurisdiction, power, authority 
and duty theretofore vested in said courts 
and justices of the peace, and in the clerks, 
officers, interpreters, stenographers and em- 
ployes of said courts and justices shall cease 
and determine, except as provided in the next 
section and section thirteen hundred and sev- 
enty-two of this act; and from and after 
the passage of this act no person shall be 
elected to the office of district court justice 
or justice of the peace in any portion of 
the territory included within The City of 
New York as constituted by this act. 

Municipal court created. 

' Sec. 1351. On and after the first day of 
January, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
the district courts of the city of New York 
and the justices' courts of the first, second 
and third districts of the city of Brooklyn 
are hereby continued, consolidated and re- 
organized under the name of “The Municipal 
Court of The City of New York,” which said 
court shall be a local civil court within The 
City of New York as constituted by this act, 
and shall not be a court of record or have any 
equity jurisdiction; but shall have the juris- 
diction, powers, duties and organization 
hereinafter prescribed. 

Justices. 

Sec. 1352. The said court shall be held by 
justices to be elected or appointed as fol- 
lows: 

1. The justices of said district courts of 
The City of New York and said justices of 
the peace in the first, second and third dis- 
tricts of the city of Brooklyn, in office on the 
first day of January, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight, shall continue for the remain- 
der of the terms for which they were elected 
or appointed, and shall be called justices of 
the municipal court of The City of New 
York, and shall have all the power and juris- 
diction and be subject to all the duties and 
requirements hereinafter prescribed for Jus- 
tices of said municipal courts. 

2. The successors of the justices mentioned 
in the first subdivision of this section shall 
be elected by the electors of the districts for 
which said justices were elected or appoint- 
ed respectively, as described and renumbered 
in sections thirteen hundred and fifty-nine, 
thirteen hundred and sixty and thirteen hun- 
dred and sixty-one of this act, at the gen- 
eral election to be held in the year at the 
end of which the terms of said justices shall 
expire. 

3. There shall be elected at the general 
election to be held on the first Tuesday suc- 
ceeding the first Monday of November, in 
the year eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, 
as many justices of said municipal court as 
there shall be Justices of the said dis- 


trict courts in the city of New York or 
justices of the peace of the said first, second 
and third districts, in the city of Brooklyn, 
whose terms expire at the end of year eigh- 
teen hundred and ninety-seven. Such jus- 
tices shall be elected by the electors of the dis- 
tricts for which such justices whose terms ex- 
pire in eighteen hundred and ninety-seven 
were elected or appointed, as described and 
renumbered in sections thirteen hundred and 
fifty-nine, thirteen hundred and sixty and 
thirteen hundred and sixty-one of this act. 

4. On or before the twentieth day of Janu- 
ary, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, the 
mayor of The City of New York shall ap- 
point seven additional justices of said mu- 
nicipal court, two of whom shall be resi- 
dents of the fourth and fifth districts of the 
borough of Brooklyn, three of whom shall 
be residents of the first, second and third 
districts of the borough of Queens, and two 
of whom shall be residents of the first and 
second districts of the borough of Rich- 
mond, respectively. The justices so appoint- 
ed shall hold office till the thirty-first day of 
December, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, 
and their successors shall be elected at the 
general election to be held in the year 
eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, and shall 
be residents of the same districts as the 
justices appointed pursuant to this subdi- 
vision. 

Qualifications, etc., of justices. 

Sec. 1353. No one shall hereafter be eligi- 
ble to the office of justice of the said mu- 
nicipal court, after the first day of March, 
eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, unless he 
be a resident and elector in the district for 
which he shall be elected or appointed and 
has been an attorney and counselor-at-law 
of the state of New York for at least five 
years or unless he shall have served as a 
justice of such municipal court. None of 
said justices shall engage in any other busi- 
ness profession or hold any other public office 
or act as referee, or receiver, but each of 
said justices shall devote his whole time and 
capacity, so far as the pubile interest de- 
mands, to the duties of his office; provided, 
however, that this restriction shall not apply 
to the justices of said court mentioned in 
subdivision one of section thirteen hundred 
and fifty-two of this act. 

Oath. 

Sec. 1354. The justices elected or appointed 
pursuant to this act shall, before entering 
upon their duties, take the oath of office 
prescribed by the constitution, and file the 
same with the city clerk. 

Salary. 

Sec. 1355. The salary of each of said jus- 
tices, except those appointed or elected from 
the boroughs of Queens and Richmond, shall 
be six thousand dollars a year, to be paid 
in equal monthly installments by the proper 
officers of said city, and the salary of each 
of said justices appointed or elected for the 
boroughs of Queens and Richmond shall be 
five thousand dollars a year, to be paid in the 
same manner. 

Terms. 

Sec. 1356. The terms of said justices to be 
elected pursuant to this title shall be ten 
years. 

Vacancies. 

Sec. 1357. Vacancies occurring In the office 
of justice of said court shall be filled at 
the next ensuing general election for the 
unexpired term commencing on the first day 
of January next after said election; and the 
mayor of the city shall appoint some proper 
person to fill such vacancy in the interim 
within twenty days after the same occurs. 


districts. 

Sec. 1358. The several boroughs composing 
The City of New York are hereby divided 
into districts, in each of which sessions of 
said municipal court shall be held, as speci- 
fied in the next five sections. 

Borough of The Bronx. 

Sec. 1359. In the borough of The Bronx 
there shall be two districts, as follows: 

1. The first district embracing the terri- 
tory described in chapter nine hundred and 
thirty-four of the law's of eighteen hundred 
and ninety-five. 

2. The second district embracing the re- 
mainder of said borough. 

Borough of Manhatan. 

Sec. 1360. In the borough of Manhattan 
there shall be thirteen districts, as follows: 

1. The first district embraces the third, 
fifth and eighth wards of said borough of 
Manhattan, and all that part of the first 
ward lying west of Broadw'ay and Whitehall 
street, including Nuttin or Governor’s isl- 
and, Bedloe’s island. Bucking or Ellis island 
and the Oyster islands. 

2. The second embraces the second, fourth, 
sixth and fourteenth wards, and all that por- 
tion of the first ward lying south and east of 
Broadway and Whitehall street. 

3. The third district embraces the ninth 
and fifteenth wards. 

4. The fourth district embraces the tenth 
and seventeenth wards. 

5. The fifth district embraces the eleventh 
w r ard and all that portion of the thirteenth 
ward which lies east of the center line of 
Norfolk street and north of the center line 
of Grand street and west of the center line 
of Pitt street and north of the center line 
of Delancey street. 

6. The sixth district embraces the eight- 
eenth and twenty-first wards. 

7. The seventh district embraces the nine- 
teenth ward. 

8. The eighth district embraces the six- 
teenth and twentieth wards. 

9. The ninth district e'mbraces the twelfth 
ward, except that portion thereof which lies 
west of the center line of Lenox or Sixth 
avenue and of the Harlem river north of 
the terminus of Lenox avenue. 

10. The tenth district embraces that portion 
of the twenty-second ward south of Seven- 
tieth street. 

11. The twelfth district embraces that por- 
tion of the twenty-second ward north of 
Seventieth street and that portion ef the 
twelfth ward which lies north of the center 
line of Eighty-sixth street and west of the 
center line of Seventh avenue and south of 
the center line of One Hundred and Twentieth 
street between Seventh avenue and Broad- 
way and south of the center line of One 
Hundred and Nineteenth street between 
Broadway and the North or Hudson river. 

12. The eleventh district embraces that 
portion of the twelfth ward which lies north 
of the center line of West One Hundred and 
Tenth street between Lenox avenue and 
Seventh avenue north of the center line of 
One Hundred (and Twentieth street between 
Seventh avenue and Broadway, and north of 
the center line of One Hundred and Nine- 
teenth street between Broadway and the 
North or Hudson river, and west of the 
center line of Lenox or Sixth avenue and 
of the Harlem river north of the terminus 
of Lenox or Sixth avenue. 

13. The thirteenth district embraces the 
seventh ward and all that portion of the 
thirteenth ward which lies east of the center 
line of Norfolk street and south of the center 
line of Grand street and east of the center 


144 


THE CHAItTETt OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


line of Pitt street ahd south of the center 
line of Delancey street.— As amended by 
Laws of 1903, Chapter 645. 

Borough of Brooklyn. 

Sec. 1361. In the borough of Brooklyn there 
shall he five districts, as follows: 

1. The first district embraces the first, sec- 
ond, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, tenth and 
twelfth wards. 

2. The second district embraces the seventh, 
ninth, eleventh, twentieth, twenty-first and 
twenty-third wards. 

3. The third district embraces the thir- 
teenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, sev- 
enteenth, eighteenth and nineteenth wards. 

4 . The fourth district embraces the twenty- 
fourth, twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, twenty- 
seventh and twenty-eighth wards. 

5. The fifth district embraces the eighth, 
twenty-second, twenty-ninth, thirtieth, thirty- 
first and thirty-second wards. 

Borough of Queens. 

Sec. 1362. In the borough of Queens there 
shall be three districts, as follows: 

1. The first district embraces ward one of 
said borough. 

2. The second district embraces wards two 
and three of said borough. 

3. The third district embraces wards four 
and five of said borough. 

Borough of Richmond. 

Sec. 1363. In the borough of Richmond 
there shall be two districts, as follows: 

1. The first district embraces wards one and 
three of said borough. 


2. The second district embraces wards two, 
four and five of said borough. 


Sec. 1364. 
880. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, Chapter 

Sec. 1365. 
880. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, Chapter 

Sec. 1366. 
680. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, Chapter 

Sec. 1367. 
580. 

Repealed. 

Laws 1902. Chapter 

Sec. 1368. 
680. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, Chapter 

Sec. 1369. 
680. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, Chapter 

Sec. mo. 
880 . 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, Chapter 

Sec; 1371. 
680. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, Chapter 

Sec. 1372. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, Chapter 


680/ 

Clerks and assistant clerks. 

Sec. 1373. There shall be in and for each 
district a clerk of said court and in each 
district in the boroughs of Manhattan. 
Brooklyn, the Bronx, and the first district of 
Queens, an assistant clerk, who shall be ap- 
pointed by the justice elected in said dis- 
trict. as hereinbefore provided, and shall 
•n*ld office for the term of six years from the 
date of appointment; and before entering 
upon his duties each such clerk or assistant 
clerk shall file in the office of the comptrol- 
ler of the city of New York a bond in the 
penal sum of five thousand dollars, condi- 
tioned for the faithful discharge of his duty 
and the due accounting for and payment of 
all money by him received or with him de- 
posited in any action as such clerk or as- 
sistant clerk to be approved by the said 
comptroller to be indorsed thereon. Each 
such clerk and assistant clerk shall receive 
a salary of three thousand dollars per an- 
num, except in the boroughs of Queens and 
Richmond, wherein the salary of the clerks 
and assistants shall be two thousand dollars 


per annum each. Such salaries shall be paid 
in equal monthly installments; and neither 
said clerks nor assistant clerks nor other em- 
ployes of said court shall receive any fee or 
compensation whatever for their own use for 
any services performed by them by virtue of 
their offices other than their salaries; and 
the duties of such clerks and assistant clerks 
shall be the same as those now imposed by 
law upon the clerks and assistant clerks of 
the district courts in the city of New York. 
No such clerk, assistant clerk or other em- 
ploye of such courts shall hold any other 
office or be interested in any other business, 
except as permitted by the next section, but 
shall give their whole time to their respect- 
ive duties and shall reside in the borough 
in which the district for which they are ap- 
pointed respectively is situated. For any 
breach of said bond the appellate division of 
the supreme court in the judicial depart- 
ment wherein the district for which such 
clerk or assistant clerk is appointed is sit- 
uated may order the same to be prosecuted 
in the name of any person damaged by such 
breach. The clerks, assistant clerks, stenog- 
raphers, interpreters and attendants of the 
district courts in the city of New York and 
of the justices’ courts of first, second and 
third districts of the city of Brooklyn who 
shall be in office on the first day of January, 
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall con- 
tinue until the expiration of their respective 
terms, in the like capacities as officers of the 
said municipal court. Each justice upon ap- 
pointing a clerk or assistant clerk shall 
make duplicate certificates of such appoint- 
ments, stating the term of the appointment 
and when it will expire, and one of such du- 
plicates shall be filed by him in the office of 
the city clerk, and the other with the secre- 
tary of the board of justices provided for in 
the next section. The said justices shall in 
like manner also appoint the officers neces- 
sary to attend the court in each district, not 
exceeding three, at an annual salary of one 
thousand dollars, and a stenographer in and 
for each district at an annual salary of two 
thousand dollars, and in and for each dis- 
trict in the boroughs of Manhattan, Brook- 
lyn, and the second district of the Bronx, 
an interpreter at an annual salary of twelve 
hundred dollars. Each of said attendants, 
stenographers and interpreters shall be ap- 
pointed for two years or to fill the residue of 
an unexpired term. The said justices may 
remove any of the said attendants, stenog- 
raphers or interpreters, provided that before 
removal such officers shall have notice of 
the cause of their proposed removal and an 
opportunity to make an explanation; and the 
reasons for any removal shall be briefly en- 
tered on such minutes. — As amended by 


Laws 

of 1902, Chapter 

497. 



Sec. 

580. 

1374. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, 

Chapter 

Sec. 

580. 

1375. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, 

Chapter 

Sec. 

580. 

1376. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, 

Chapter 

Sec. 

580. 

1377. 

Repealed. 

Laws 

1902, 

Chapter 


Clerks to administer oatlis. 

Sec. 1378. The clerks and assistant clerks 
of the said municipal court are authorized 
to administer oaths in The City of New York 
in the same manner and with the like effect 
as clerks of courts of record. 

Sec. 1379. Repealed. Laws 1902, Chapter 
580. 

Sec. 1380. Repealed. Laws 1902, Chapter 


Removal. 

Sec. 1383. The justices of said court and the 
clerks and assistant clerks thereof may be 
removed for cause after due notice and an 
opportunity of being heard by the appellate 
division of the supreme court in the judicial 
district wherei nthe district for which said 
justices were elected or appointed, or where- 
in the district for which such clerks or as- 
sistant clerks were appointed, is situated. 

Sec. 1384. Repealed. Laws 1902, Chapter 
580. 

TITLE 3. 

INFERIOR COURTS OF CRIMINAL 
JURISDICTION. 

Division of city for sneli purpose. 

Sec. 1390. For the purposes of administra- 
tion of criminal justice The City of New York, 
as hereby constituted, is divided into two di- 
visions, as follows: The first division em- 
braces the boroughs of The Bronx and of 
Manhattan; the second division embraces the 
boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond; 
the borough of the Bronx in the first divis- 
ion shall be divided into two city magis- 
trates’ court districts by the mayor, the 
commissioner of police and the president of 
the board of city magistrates of the first 
division in such manner as to make access 
to the courts convenient to the residents of 
that borough and otherwise conserve pub- 
lic interests. The additional district thus 
to be made shall be known as the eighth dis- 
trict city magistrates’ court. — As amended 
by Laws of 1903, Chapter 410. 

Board of magistrates. 

Sec. 1391. In each of said divisions, there 
shall be a board of city magistrates composed 
of the city magistrates therein in office on 
the first day of January, nineteen hundred 
and two, and such as thereafter may be ap- 
pointed or elected pursuant to law. The 
board for the first, division shall consist of 
fourteen magistrates, each of whom shall be 
a resident of and elector within said first 
division. The board of the second division 
shall consist of fifteen magistrates, ten 
of whom shall be residents and elec- 
tors of the Borough of Brooklyn, three of 
the borough of Queens and two of the bor- 
ough of Richmond, which said board shall be 
created as hereinafter provided. — As amend- 
ed by Laws of 1903, Chapter 410. 

Sec. 1392. The city magistrates of the first 
division in office on the first day of January, 
nineteen hundred and two, shall hold office 
until the expiration of their respective terms, 
and the mayor of the city of New York, shall 
within thirty days after this act shall take 
effect appoint two city magistrates, residents 
of the first division who shall possess the 
qualifications prescribed in section fourteen 
hundred and one and who shall hold office 
for the term of ten years. The successors 
of all said fourteen magistrates shall be 
appointed by the mayor and shall hold office 
for the term of ten years. Upon the hap- 
pening of any vacancy in said office in the 
first division, whether by expiration of a 
term or for any other cause, the mayor shall 
appoint some proper person to fill such va- 
cancy within thirty days after the same 
occurs; and in case such vacancy occurs 
otherwise than by expiration of a term, the 
person appointed to fill the same shall be ap- 
pointed for the unexpired residue of the term. 
Upon making an appointment of a city magis- 
trate in the first division, the mayor shall 
make three written certificates thereof, each 
of which shall state the title of the office, 
the borough and division from which and 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


145 


the term for which the appointment is made. 
One of such certificates, he shall deliver to 
the person appointed and of the others, he 
shall cause one to be filed in the office of the 
city clerk, and one to be filed in the office of 
the clerk of the county in which is situated 
the borough fron» which such person is ap- 
pointed. The city magistrates in office in 
the second division on the first day of Janu- 
ary, nineteen hundred and one, who were 
police justices in the former city of Brook- 
lyn in office on the thirty-first day of Janu- 
ary, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall 
hold office until their successors are elected 
at the general election to be held in the year 
nineteen hundred and one, but all city magis- 
trates in the borough of Brooklyn appointed 
after January thirty-first, eighteen hundred 
and ninety-nine, who were in office on Jan- 
uary first, nineteenth hundred and one, shall 
hold offiee until their successors are elected 
at the general election to be held in the year 
nineteen hundred and seven. 

The terms of the present city magistrates 
of the second division of The City of New 
York, who were formerly police justices in 
the former city of Brooklyn, shall expire on 
the thirty-first day of December, nineteen 
hundred and one, and their successors who 
shall be elected at the general election to be 
held in the year nineteen hundred and one 
shall take office on the first day of January 
in the year nineteen hundred and two. The 
successors of such magistrates shall at all 
times thereafter be elected at the general 
election to be held in the year at the end of 
which the term pf said city magistrates shall 
expire, and shall be residents and elec- 
tors of the borough from which said magis- 
trates whom they shall be elected 
to succeed were appointed or elected, 
and shall hold office for six years. 
Upon the happening of any vacancy in 
said office of city magistrate in the second 
division, whether by expiration of a term or 
for any other cause the same shall be filled 
at the next ensuing general election at which 
a city magistrate can be elected, for the un- 
expired term commencing on the first day 
of January after such election, and the 
mayor shall appoint some proper person to 
fill such vacancy in the interim. 

At the general election to be held in the 
borough of Brooklyn in the year nineteen 
hundred and one, there shall be elected in 
each congressional district, as then, consti- 
tuted in said borough, one city magistrate, 
and in the territory constituting the bor- 
ough of Brooklyn there shall be elected two 
city magistrates at large, and the terms of 
office of all of said city magistrates so elected 
shall commence on the first day of January 
nineteen hundred and two and continue for 
six years thereafter. The successors of said 
city magistrates in the borough of Brooklyn 
shall be elected for the like term and in the 
like manner at the general election next pre- 
ceding the expiration of the terms of their 
predecessors - , except that the successors of 
the city magistrates heretofore appointed 
from the borough of Brooklyn and in office in 
the year nineteen hundred shall be elected 
at the election next preceding the expiration 
of their terms as hereinbefore designated, 
and they shall be elected at large in said 
borough of Brooklyn for the term of six 
years commencing on the first day of Janu- 
ary succeeding their election, and their suc- 
cessors shall be elected for a like term and 
in a like manner. The successors of the 
present city magistrates for the boroughs of 
Queens and Richmond shall be elected at 
the general election to be held in said bor- 
oughs next preceding the expiration of their 
respective terms. At the general election 


to be held in the boroughs of Queens and 
Richmond in the year nineteen hundred and 
five there shall be elected in the territory 
constituting the borough of Queens, one city 
magistrate at large, and in the territory 
constituting the borough of Richmond one 
city magistrate at large, amd at the general 
election to be held in the boroughs of Queens 
and Richmond in the year nineteen hundred 
and seven, there shall be elected in the ter- 
ritory constituting the borough of Queens, 
two city magistrates at large and in the ter- 
ritory constituting the borough of Richmond 
one city magistrate at laTge. The terms of 
office of said city magistrates so elected for 
the boroughs of Queens and Richmond shall 
commence on the first day of January next 
succeeding their election and the terms of 
all said city magistrates so elected shall con- 
tinue for six years thereafter. The success- 
ors of the said city magistrates in the bor- 
oughs of Queens and Richmond shall be 
elected for the like term and in the like 
manner at the general election next preced- 
ing the expiration of the terms of their suc- 
cessors. Upon the happening of any va- 
cancy, the same shall be filled by election 
at the next general election . occurring 
at least thirty days after such va- 
cancy, at which an election for a city 
magistrate can be held. If such election 
is for an unexpired term, it shall be for 
the residue of said term, and until the first 
day of January next after such election, 
said office shall be filled by appointment by 
the mayor of The City of New York, within 
thirty days after such vacancy shall occur. 
The city magistrates elected or appointed 
pursuant to this act, shall, before entering 
upon their duties, take the oath of office pre- 
scribed by the constitution and file the same 
with the city clerk. — As amended by Laws of 
1903, Chapter 410, 

Organization and powers of the boards. 

Sec. 1393. Bach board of city magistrates 
may elect a president from their own number, 
and at pleasure remove him and elect a suc- 
cessor. All the meetings of such board shall 
be public, and Its proceedings shall be record- 
ed in its books of minutes by its secretary, 
and shall be preserved. Each board may 
designate a police clerk to act as its secretary* 
and from time to time substitute any other; 
and the salary of such police clerk as such 
secretary shall not exceed five hundred dol- 
lars per annum. Each board shall establish 
public rules relative to its meetings, which, 
as far as possible, shall be held at regular 
times— for the order and transaction of its 
business thereat; for the keeping and preser- 
vation of the minutes of its doings; for the 
appointment of employes; and for the public 
inspection of its minutes, under the care cf 
the secretary, at reasonable times. The con- 
currence of a majority of all the members of 
a board of city magistrates shall be necessary 
to adopt any resolution of said board. 

Police clerks. 

Sec. 1394. The board of city magistrates of 
the first division shall have the authority and 
duty of appointing eight police clerks; each 
board shall regulate the time, place and man- 
ner of the discharge of the duty of the police 
clerks; but the police clerks in the first 
division in office on the first day of Jan- 
uary, nineteen • hundred and two, shall con- 
tinue to hold office until the expiration of 
their several terms. Each police clerk in the 
first division shall be appointed for the 
term of four years, and, on making the ap- 
pointment, the board shall cause three certi- 
ficates to be signed by its president and secre- 
tary, each of which shall state the term of 


the office, the borough and division from 
which and- the term for which the appoint- 
ment is made, and when it will expire, and 
the secretary shall deliver one of said cer- 
tificates to the person so appointed, and shall 
cause the other certificates to be filed, one in 
the office of the city clerks, and one in the 
office of the clerk of the county in which is 
situated the borough from which such person 
was appointed. Upon the question of the 
appointment of a police olerk or other appoin- 
tee, in the first division the mem- 
bers of the board shall vote as their 
names are called by the secretary, and 
the vote of each member shall be re- 
corded in the minutes. No clerk or other 
officer or employe appointed by a board of 
city magistrates, or by any magistrate, 
shall hold any other office or be interested in 
any other business, but they shall give their 
whole time to their respective duties, and 
shall be residents of The City of New York, 
and of the divisions within which they were 
appointed, and, in the second division, they 
shall each be residents of the borough from 
which they are appointed. Within thirty 
days after this act shall take effect the 
board of city magistrates of the first division 
shall appoint an additional police clerk, mak- 
ing eight in all, and assign one of such police 
clerks to duty in the new district hereby 
created; it shall also appoint and assign to 
duty a stenographer and an interpreter; it 
shall appoint such additional assistants and 
court attendants upon the assent of the 
board of estimate and apportionment as may 
be necessary. The police clerks and the 
police clerks’ assistants in office in said 
second division of the city of New York at 
the time this act takes effect shall continue 
in their respective offices until midnight of 
December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and 
one, after which date their respective duties 
shall cease and determine, and their dif- 
ferent positions be deemed abolished. — As 
amended by Law's of 1903, Chapter 410. 

Bond of police clerks. 

Sec. 1395. Before any police clerk in the 
first division shall en.ter upon the discharge 
of his duty, he shall file in the office of the 
comptroller of the city a bond in the penal 
sum of five thousand dollars, with two sure- 
ties, conditioned for the faithful discharge 
of his duty as a police clerk and the due ac- 
counting for and the payment of all money 
received by him as such clerk, such bond 
to be approved by said comptroller, whose 
approval shall be evidenced by his certifi- 
cate endorsed thereon. 

Other appointees. 

Sec. 1396. The said board of city magis- 
trates in the first division may appoint po^ 
lice clerks’ assistants, stenographers, inter- 
preters and other necessary attendants. 
Such appointee*, -including those in office 
when this act takes effect, shall hold their 
respective positions so long as they are 
faithful, capable and of good conduct, and 
before removal, for want of either or all of 
said qualifications, the individual against 
whom charges are made sfhall have notice 
thereof, and an opportunity to make an ex- 
planation in the presence of the board, and 
the reason for any removal shall be briefly 
entered in the minutes. The police clerks’ 
assistants, and other assistants in any city 
magistrate’s court, shall obey the reasona- 
ble directions of the police clerk assigned 
to the court, subject, however, to the 
proper orders of the city magistrate presid- 
ing and of the board of city magistrates. 
The rnunher of police clerks’ assistants in 


116 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


the first division shall not exct 1 eighteen. 
Police clerks' assistants in the boroughs of 
Manhattan and the Bronx shall receive a 
salary not exceeding two thousand dollars 
per annum. The salary of the stenographers 
shall not exceed, in the first division and 
the borough of Brooklyn, two thousand dol- 
lars per annum; in the other boroughs 
eighteen, hundred dollars per annum. There 
shall be no police clerks’ assistants in the 
boroughs of Queens and Richmond, except 
as provided in the next section.— As 
amended by Laws of 1902, Chapter 256. 

The second division. 

Sec. 1396a. Each city magistrate here- 
after elected in a congressional district or 
appointed for a full term in said second 
division of The City of New York shall have 
the authority to appoint one police clerk, 
and two assistant clerks and a stenographer, 
said clerks to perform such duties as thp 
board of city magistrates in said second 
division shall regulate and determine. Each 
police clerk shall be appointed for the term 
of four years, and on making such appoint- 
ments the city magistrate so appointing 
shall sign three certificates, each of which 
shall state the term of office, borough and 
division from which, and term for which, 
the appointment-.ts made, and when it will 
expire. The magistrate shall deliver one of 
said certificates to the person so appointed, 
and shall cause the other certificates to oe 
filed, one in the office of the city clerk, and 
one in the clerk’s office of the county in 
which is situated the borough from which 
such person is appointed, The salary of 
each police clerk, in the first division and 
in the borough of Brooklyn, shall be twenty- 
five hundred dollars per annum, payable 
monthly, and the salary of each assistant 
clerk in the borough of Brooklyn shall not 
exceed two thousand dollars per annum, and 
in the boroughs of Queens and Richmond said 
clerks’ salaries shall be two thousand dollars 
per year, payable monthly; and no such clerk, 
deputy clerk or employe appointed by said 
city magistrates shall hold any other office 
or be interested in any other business, but 
shall give their whole time to their respec- 
tive duties, 1 and shall he residents of the 
borough in which the appointing magistrate 
is elected. 

Anthority to ndopt rules. 

Sec. 1397. Each board of city magistrates 
shall adopt, and may from time to time 
amend or add to rules relating to the follow- 
ing subjects, and which shall be binding on 
said city magistrates, and shall regulate the 
business of such city magistrates, courts and 
boards: 

1. As to the magistrates who shall hold 
city magistrates’ courts at times and places 
to be specified, and for a rotation of the 
magistrates holding such courts. 

2. As to tho hours at which said courts 
shall be opened on each day, including Jun- 
aays and legal holidays, and what officers 
shall be in attendance. 

3. As to the order of business and the mau- 
ner of its discharge, including the taking f Z 
bail and entering into recognizances. 

4. As to the manner in which the police 
clerks and their assistants shall keep com- 
plete records of the doings of said courts 
and magistrates, and perform their other 
duties. 

5. As to the collection and disposition of 
any moneys by any police clerk, and a6 'o 
keeping accounts of the same. 

6. The board of city magistrates in the first 
division shall further adopt, and may from 
time to time amend, rules relative to the or- 
ganization of a part of the court for the hear- 
ing of children's cases, as provided in section 


thirteen hundred and ninety-nine of this act, 
and to the assignment of magistrates of tho 
first division to hold the said part. 

Maintenance of order in courts. 

Sec. 1398. The said boards of city magis- 
trates, and each of them, shall also have 
power t-o ipake needful rules and regula- 
tions for the maintenance of order in and 
about the said city magistrates’ courts, and 
the officers* appropriated to the use of the 
magistrates, clerks and officers thereof, re- 
spectively, and all persons wilfully violating 
any such rule or regulation may be arrested 
and punished in the same manner as is 
now provided by law for the punishment of 
disorderly conduct tending to a breach of 
the peace in said city. And said board3 
may make proper provisions by rule to pre- 
vent undue public' - of proceedings before 
any city magistrate in respect to any r-h-rcc's. 
pending attempts to make arrests, and also 
in cases where there is good reason to think 
such publicity is sought for the gratifica- 
tion of malice or pernicious curiosity. The 
several city magistrates’ courts shall be 
opened every day at nine o'clock in the 
morning, and in the first, second, third, 
fourth, fifth and seventh districts of the 
first division, and the first, second, third, 
fourth and fifth districts of the borough of 
Brooklyn, shall not be closed before four 
o’clock in the afternoon, except on Sat- 
urdays, Sundays and holidays, when morn- 
ing sessions only shall be necessary. The 
sixth and eighth district court of the first 
division, and each of said courts uot above 
enumerated of the second division, shall be 
open each day during such hours as the 
respective boards of city magistrates shall 
by rule determine. On any day of general 
election each court shall be kept open until 
the polls are closed. — As amended by Laws 
of 1903, Chapter 410. 

Establishment of part for children’s 

eases in first division. 

Sec. 1399. The board of city magistrates 
of the first dlvic-ion shall assign a separate 
part for the hearing and disposition of cases 
now within the jurisdiction of said magis- 
trates involving the trial or commitment of 
children, which part may for convenience 
be called the children’s court; and in all such 
cases the magistrate holding said court shall 
have all the powers, duties and jurisdic- 
tion now possessed by the city magistrates 
within said first division. Said children's 
court shall be held by the several magis- 
trates in rotation in such manner as may 
be determined by said board, and shall be 
open on such days and during such hours as 
the. said board shall in its rules provide. 
Whenever, under any provision of law, a 
child under sixteen years of age is taken 
before a city magistrate in the first di- 
vision sitting in any cotirt other than the 
children’s court, it shall be the duty of such 
magistrate to transfer the case to the chil- 
dren's court, if the case falls within the 
jurisdiction of said court as herein pro- 
vided, and it shall be the duty of the officer 
having the child in charge to take such 
child before that court, and in any such case 
the magistrate holding said children’s court 
must proceed to hear and dispose of the case 
in the same manner as if it had been origi- 
nally brought therein. The board of city 
magistrates shall appoint a clerk for the 
children's courl and such assistants as may 
be necessary, whose salaries shall be fixed 
by the board of aldermen on the recommen- 
dation of the board of estimate and appor- 

* So in original. 


tionment. The said court shall be held, if 
practicable, in the building in which the 
offices of the department of public charities 
for the examination of dependent children 
are located, or if this shall not be prac- 
ticable, the court shall be held in some other 
building as near thereto as practicable, to 
be selected by the commissioners of the 
sinking fund. Nothing herein contained 
shall affect any provisions of law with re- 
spect to the temporary commitment by 
magistrates of children charged with crime 
or held as witnesses for the trial of any 
criminal case, or the existing jurisdiction ot 
the court of special sessions. 

Sec. 1399. See Sec. 1418, and Laws 1902, 
Chapter 590. 

Court records. 

Sec. 1400. Each police clerk shall keep 
books of record containing the name and 
sex, as near as may be the age of all per- 
sons against whom complaints or charges 
have been made, the nature and date of the 
complaint or charge, and the name and resi- 
dence of the complainant, giving street and 
number; the date and nature of all war- 
rants or other process issued, and against 
whom; the dates, nature and result of all 
examinations; the date of the reception and 
the name and the disposition of all prison- 
ers; the names of all persons waiving ex- 
aminations; the names of all persons giving 
bail and its amount, and the names and 
residence of all bondsmen; the name, resi- 
dence and the age, as near as possible, and 
the sex of all persons committed, fined, con- 
victed, held for trial or sent to any other 
court for trial, and for what cause, and by 
what magistrate, and at what date; the 
date at which any fine is paid, by whom, and 
the amount; the name, residence, age and 
sex of all persons discharged, by what mag- 
istrate, of what oharge, and at what date, 
together with a suggestion of the cause of 
such discharge; the ‘place and date of filing 
and the result of the prosecution of recog- 
nizances; the name and address of any at- 
torney appearing in respect of any charge 
or on any hearing, and the reasons for any 
unusual delay in any proceeding. 

tlnaliflcntionx of city magistrates. 

Sec. 1401. No person shall be appointed 
to the office of city magistrate unless he 
shall have been admitted to practice as an 
attorney and counselor at law in the courts 
of this state at least five years prior to the 
date of such appointment, unless he was a 
police justice in office on the first day of 
January, eighteen hundred and ninety-five. 
No city magistrate shall receive to his own 
use any fees or perquisites of office; nor 
shall any such magistrate hold any other 
public office, or carry on any business, or 
practice as an attorney or counselor at law 
in any court in this state, or act as referee 
or receiver; but each magistrate shall de- 
vote his whole time and capacity, so far as 
the pubyc interests demand, to the duties 
of his office. 

Manner of removal. 

Sec. 1401a. A city magistrate or police 
clerk may be removed for cause, after due 
notice and on opportunity of being heard, 
by the appellate division of the supreme 
court within the division for which such city 
magistrate or police clerk was appointed. 
Salaries of city magistrates. 

Sec. 1402. The salaries of the city magis- 
trates and of their successors, to be paid 
in equal monthly installments, shall be 
as follows: The salary of each city 
magistrate for the first division shall be 


t 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEAT YORK. 


147 


seven thousand dollars per annum. The 
salary of each city magistrate appointed 
from the borough of Brooklyn, In the sec- 
ond division, shall be six thousand dollars 
per annum. The salary of each city magis- 
trate from the boroughs of Queens and Rich- 
mond shall be five thousand dollars per 
annum. 

2. The board of estimate and apportionment 
shall meet and make provision for the salar- 
ies and expenses incident to the creation 
of such additional city magistrates’ court 
and the amount found necessary shall be 
added to and included in the final estimate 
for the year nineteen hundred and three and 
collected by tax from the estates, real and 
personal, subject to taxation, in the city of 
New York. — As amended by Laws of 1903, 
Chapter 410. 

Inability of magistrate to act) transfer 

of charges. 

Sec. 1403. If a vacancy exists in the of- 
fice of city magistrate, or the illness, ab- 
sence or other inability of any magistrate, 
assigned to hold any city magistrates’ court 
in either division, prevent his holding the 
same, any other city magistrate in The 
City of New York may hold such court, and 
the fact of such vacancy, illness, absence or 
other inability shall be adequate cause, 
without further entry upon the record, for 
the transfer of all pending charges or com- 
plaints in said court, if the magistrate ap- 
pearing and holding such court shall elect 
to proceed therein. No charge, complaint 
or person brought before one city magis- 
trate, except as provided in this section or 
in section thirteen hundred and ninety-nine 
of this act, shall be sent before another 
magistrate, except for adequate cause, to 
be fully and at once entered upon the rec- 
ords kept by the respective police clerks 
and signed by the magistrate, and no per- 
son shall be committed or recommitted for 
examination save for necessary cause, to be 
then clearly stated upon the record; the 
hearing upon any charge shall not be ad- 
journed to another day without the reason 
therefor being entered upon such record, nor 
shall any charge be dismissed or any pris- 
oner discharged without record thereof made 
as above provided. 

Appeals from city magistrates. 

Sec. 1404. All provisions of law conferring 
the right of appeal and prescribing the pro- 
cedure on appeal to the court of general 
sessions of the peace in the county of New 
York from any judgment, order or other 
determination of a city magistrate, includ- 
ing a commitment under section two hun- 
dred and ninety-one of the penal code, or 
of any court held by a city magistrate in 
force on the first day of January, nineteen 
hundred and two, shall apply to and regulate 
all appeals, and the right of appeal in all 
cases hitherto existing is hereby preserved 
and continued. The right of appeal from 
any judgment, order or other determination 
of a city magistrate in the second division 
hitherto existing, to the county court of the 
county where the said judgment, order or 
other determination is made, is hereby pre- 
served and continued. 

Conrt of NpecinI sessions continued. 

Sec. 1405. The court of special sessions of 
the city of New York is hereby continued 
with all the powers, duties and jurisdiction 
it now has by law and such additional powers, 
duties and jurisdiction as are contained in 
and conferred by section fourteen hundred 

and nineteen. The justices of the court of 


special sessions of the first and second di- 
visions of the city of New York are hereby 
continued in office until the expiration of 
the terms for which they have been ap- 
pointed, and their successors shall be ap- 
pointed by the mayor for the term of ten 
years. There shall be six justices of the 
special sessions for the first division and 
six fer the second division. Within twenty 
days after this act takes effect the mayor 
shall appoint one additional justice for the 
second division for a term of ten years, whose 
powers, duties, jurisdiction and compensa- 
tion shall be the same; whose successor shall 
be selected in like manner and who shall 
possess all the requirements for appoint- 
ment as those hereby continued in office. — 
As amended by Laws of 1902, Chapter 590, 
and Laws of 1903, Chapter 159. 

■Vacancies. 

Sec. 1406. Any vacancy in said office shall 
be filled by the mayor of said city by ap- 
pointment within thirty days after its oc- 
currence. If such vacancy occur otherwise 
than by expiration of a term the person ap- 
pointed to fill such vacancy shall hold office 
for the unexpired term of the justice whom 
he succeeds. If the vacancy occur by the ex- 
piration of a term, the person appointed to 
succeed the justice whose term has expired 
shall hold office for the term of ten years. 
The salary of the justices of the court of 
special sessions id the first division shall 
be nine thousand dollars a year; and in the 
second division shall be six thousand dollars 
a year; to be paid in all cases in equal month- 
ly Installments. 

Clerks. 

Sec. 1407. Justices of the said court of 
special sessions for the first and second divis- 
ions respectively shall appoint a clerk and 
deputy clerk of such court. Such clerks and 
deputy clerks shall respectively hold office 
for the term of five years from the date of 
their appointment, and the clerks and dep- 
uty clerks now in office shall serve until the 
expiration of their present terms. The clerk 
in the first division shall receive a. salary of, 
four thousand dollars a year, payable in 
monthly installments, and the clerk of the 
second division shall receive a salary of three 
thousand dollars a year, and payable in 
equal monthly installments. Any vacancy in 
the office of clerk or deputy clerk shall be 
filled by the justice of said court by appoint- 
ment. If any vacancy shall occur otherwise 
than by expiration of the term of office, the 
person appointed to fill such vacancy shall 
hold office for the balance of the unexpired 
term of the officer whom he succeeds. The 
said justices shall also appoint such and so 
many officers and attendants, including a 
stenographer, as may be necessary for the 
due transaction of the business of said court. 
The said justices may remove the clerk, dep- 
uty clerk or any officer or attendant, but 
no deputy clerk, officer or attendant shall be 
removed until he shall have had notice of the 
cause of his proposed removal, and shall have 
been afforded an opportunity of making an ex- 
planation before said justices or a majority 
of them, and the reasons of any removal 
shall be entered in the minutes of the court. 

Conrt of special sessions, how held. 

Sec. 1408. The court of special sessions of 
either of said divisions of The City of New 
York must be held by three of the justices 
of said court, and any order, determination 
or judgment of two of said justices shall be 
the order, determination, or judgment of the 
court. Said court shall sit in every month 


of the year in said first division and in each 
of said boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and 
Richmond. 

Jurisdiction. 

Sec. 1409. The said courts of special ses- 
sions shall have jurisdiction as follows: 

1. Except as otherwise provided in this 
title, the said courts of special sessions of 
The City of New York shall have in the first 
instance exclusive jurisdiction to hear and 
determine all charges of misdemeanors com- 
mitted' within The City of New York, except 
charges of libel. Provided, however, that the 
same shall be tried in the county wherein 
such misdemeanors are charged to have been 
committed. The said courts shall, however, 
be divested of jurisdiction to proceed with 
the hearing and determination of any charge 
of misdemeanor in either of the following 
cases: 

First. If, before the commencement of the 
trial in said court of any person accused of 
a misdemeanor, a grand jury shall present 
an indictment against the same person for 
the same offense; or 

Second. If, before the commencement of 
any such trial, a justice of the supreme court 
in the judicial department where such trial 
would be had; or, if the charge be triable in 
the county of New York, the recorder of the 
county of New York or a judge authorized to 
hold a court of general sessions of the peace 
in and for the county of New York; or. if the 
charge be triable in another county, a county 
judge of such county shall certify that it is 
reasonable that such charge shall be prose- 
cuted by indictment. No such certificate 
shall be made upon the application of a de- 
fendant, without at least two days’ notice to 
the district attorney, but pending the de- 
termination of the application therefor, any 
justice or judge authorized to make such cer- 
tificate may order that all proceedings in the 
court of special sessions, except to admit 
to bail, be stayed for a period or for succes- 
sive periods, which shall not in all exceed 
ten days. Upon the service of said order 
upon the clerk of the said court of special 
sessions in the county wherein the charge is 
triable, all proceedings thereon in said court, 
except to admit the defendant to bail, shall 
be stayed until the expiration of the time 
specified in said order. Upon the filing of the 
certificate aforesaid with the clerk of the said 
court of special sessions, in the county where- 
in the charge Is triable, all further proceed- 
ings thereon by said court of special sessions 
shall be stayed, and the said clerk shall with- 
in five days thereafter make a return of all 
proceedings had in the said court of special 
sessions relating to such charge and trans- 
mit such return and all papers relating to 
such charge, together with said certificate 
and any undertaking given by the defendant 
to the district attorney of the county wherein 
the misdemeanor charged Is alleged to have 
been committed. The said district attorney 
shall without delay present the said charge 
to the grand jury of said county. 

2. They shall have jurisdiction at the re- 
quest of a defendant to remit a fine imposed 
by them and in place of such fine to substi- 
tute in their discretion Imprisonment. 

3. They shall have exclusive jurisdiction in 
the first instance of all proceedings respect- 
ing bastards within The City of New York 
and the jurisdiction conferred by sections 
eight hundred and thirty-eight to eight hun- 
dred and sixty inclusive of the code of crim- 
inal procedure shall be exclusively exercised 
within said city by said courts. The appli- 
cation specified in section eight hundred and 
forty of said coda of criminal prooeduro ehall 

be made to the court of special seaeloos is 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


148 


the county wherein a bastard is born or 
where the woman pregnant of a bastard like- 
ly to be born is. If a defendant desire to ap- 
peal from an order of filiation, mentioned in 
section eight hundred and fifty of the code of 
criminal procedure, such appeal shall be taken 
in accordance with section fourteen hundred 
and thirteen of this act, except that the pre- 
siding Justice, or, in his absence or disabil- 
ity, any justice, who sat on the trial of the 
defendant may take a bond from the de- 
fendant in such sum and with such sure- 
ties as the said justice may approve, that 
he will abide the final decision of the ap- 
peal taken by him, and will pay all costs and 
disbursements on appeal, and that if the said 
order of filiation be affirmed he will obey 
it and make all the payments therein di- 
rected; ana if the defendant is in custody, 
the Justice may thereupon order that the 
defendant be discharged from imprisonment 
and that all proceedings on the order of 
filiation be stayed pending the decision of 
the appeal therefrom. But a defendant who 
has executed an undertaking to obey an or- 
der of filiation and indemnify the pub- 
lic, as provided in section eight hundred 
and fifty-one of the code of criminal pro- 
cedure, cannot appeal from any other part 
of said order than that which fixes the 
W'eekly or other allowance to be paid. If 
the said bond on appeal shall not be com- 
plied with it must be sued upon by the com- 
missioner of public charities in whose juris- 
diction it was given. 

4. The said court and its justices shall 
have and exercise all the powers and juris- 
diction not inconsistent with this act which 
on the first day of January, nineteen hun- 
dred and two, shall by law be vested in the 
court or justices of special sessions in The 
City of New York. 

Practice. 

Sec. 1410. On and after the first day of 
February, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
eight, all sections of the code of criminal 
procedure consistent with this act regulat- 
ing and controlling the practice and proced- 
ure of the court of general sessions of the 
peace in the city and county of New York 
shall apply, as far as may be, to the prac- 
tice and procedure in the said courts of spe- 
cial sessions, and shall regulate and control 
the practice and procedure of said courts in 
so far as their jurisdiction and organization 
will permit. All trials in said courts of spe- 
cial sessions provided for by this title shall 
be without a jury. 

Justices to be magistrates. 

Sec. 1411. The justices of said courts 
of special sessions are magistrates, 
and shall have and exercise all the juris- 
diction and powera not inconsistent with this 
act which are by law conferred upon magis- 
trates. Whenever any justice of the court 
of special sessions, or any of the persons 
enumerated in section one hundred and forty- 
seven of the code of criminal procedure, or 
any coroner in the city of New York shall 
act as a magistrate It shall be the duty of 
each and every one of them to keep or cause 
to be kept a record which shall contain all 
the data and facts required to be kept by 
police clerks as specified in section four- 
teen hundred. And the said justice of spe- 
cial sessions, or other person acting as a 
magistrate, on or before the twentieth day 
of January In each and every year, shall 
make a return to the president of the board 
of city magistrates within the division where 
such act or acts were committed, showing 
the total number of prisoners, divided by sex 
and color, brought before him, the various 
criminal charges Investigated, the number of 


prisoners brought before him on each charge, 
and the disposition of such charges so as to 
show the number held or committed and the 
number discharged on each charge divided 
by sex, and the age and nationality of the 
persons, by sex, held or committed, b^ing 
substantially the statistical facts contained 
in tables A, B, C. D, E, F, G and H of the 
city magistrates’ reports as now made and 
published. It shall be the duty of the presi- 
dents of the respective boards of city magis- 
trates, upon application therefor, to furnish 
printed blanks for use in making such re- 
turns. And it is hereby made the duty of 
the respective boards of city magistrates to 
include in each annual report and in the 
compilation of statistical tables, the facts 
and data thus reported, in the same manner 
and form as is now required to be reported. 
—As amended by Laws of 1903, Chapter 417. 

Adoption of roles. 

Sec. 1412. The justices of said courts of 
special sessions shall meet and adopt, and 
from time to time amend or add to rules 
relating to the following subjects: 

1. Regulating the procedure and practice 
of said courts. 

2. Prescribing the duties of the clerks and 
other officers and attendants of said courts. 

See Sec. 1419 (5). 

Regulation of time, etc. 

Sec. 1413. The justices of said courts of 
special sessions of said first and second divi- 
sions of The City of New York, respectively, 
shall meet and adopt and may, from time to 
time, amend or add to rules relating to the 
following subjects: 

1. Establishing the times and places at 
which said court shall be held within each 
of said divisions, respectively. 

2. Assigning the justices to hold said courts 
from time to time, but if any justice assigned 
to sit in said court at any time ehall be ab- 
sent any other justice of the court of special 
sessions in The City of New York may sit 
in his place and stead. 

Appeals from special sessions. 

Sec. 1414. If any judgment or determina- 
tion made by the said court of special ses- 
sions shall be adverse to the defendant, he 
may appeal therefrom in the same manner as 
from a judgment in an action prosecuted by 
indictment, and may be admitted to bail upon 
an appeal in like manner; and if the judg- 
ment of the supreme court upon such an ap- 
peal shall be adverse to the defendant, he 
may appeal therefrom to the court of appeals 
as prescribed in the code of criminal pro- 
cedure. In case of any such appeal to the su- 
preme court or to the court of appeals, the 
procedure in, and the jurisdiction of, the said 
courts respectively, shall be the same as 
from a judgment of conviction after indict- 
ment. 

Doty of district attorney to attend 
court, etc. 

Sec. 1415. It shall be the duty of the dis- 
trict attorney of each of the counties of New 
York, Kings, Queens and Richmond to attend 
in person or by an assistant at all sessions 
of said courts of special sessions within his 
county. 

Qualifications of justices of special 
sessions. 

Sec. 1416. No person shall be appointed to 
the office of justice of the court of special ses- 
sions in The City of New York unless he shall 
be a resident of the eaid city and of the divi- 
sion of the city for which he shall be ap- 
pointed; nor unless he shall have been admit- 


ted to practice as an attorney and counselor 
at law in the courts of this state at least ten 
years prior to the date of such appointment. 
No euch justice shall receive to his own use 
any fees or perquisites of office; nor shall 
any such justice hold any other public office, 
or carry on any business, or practice as an 
attorney or counselor at law in any court in 
this state, or act as referee or receiver; but 
each such justice shall devote his whole time 
and capacity, so far as the public interests 
demand, to the duties of his office. . 

Possession of court-houses. 

Sec. 1417. The city magistrates and the 
boards of city magistrates and the justices 
of the court of special sessions shall con- 
tinue to have the like access and possession 
in respect to the court-houses as they have 
hitherto had. And it shall be the duty of 
The City of New York and its several officers 
charged with duties in that behalf to supply 
and pay for whatever may be necessary for 
the transaction of business of the said city 
magistrates and courts of special sessions 
and the justices thereof, and to supply all 
proper court-houses and accommodations, 
books, stationery and furniture, and to pay 
all salaries, compensations, expenses and dis- 
bursements that may be herein or otherwise 
authorized by law; and the board of estimate 
and apportionment shall annually include in 
its final estimate such sums as may be neces- 
sary to pay such salaries, cSmpensations, ex- 
penses and disbursements. 

Children’s Court. 

Sec. 1418. The justices or the special ses- 
sions of the first «division shall assign a sep- 
arate part for the hearing and disposition of 
cases heretofore within the jurisdiction of 
city magistrates involving the trial or com- 
mitment of children, which part shall be 
called the children’s court; and in all such 
cases the justice- or justices holding said 
court shall have all the powers, duties and 
jurisdiction now possessed by the city magis- 
trates within said first division, and such 
other and further powers, duties and juris- 
diction as are contained in the following 
sections: 

The justices of the special sessions of the 
second division shall as soon as a special 
court building can be put up in readiness 
assign a separate part for the hearing and 
disposition of cases heretofore within the 
jurisdiction of city magistrates, involving 
the trial or commitment of children, which 
part shall be called the children’s court, 
second division, borough of Brooklyn, and in 
all such cases the justice or justices holding 
said court shall have all the powers, duties 
and jurisdiction now possessed by the city 
magistrates within said second division, ex- 
cept in the boroughs of Queens and Rich- 
mond, and such other and further powers, 
duties and jurisdiction as are contained in 
the following sections: 

Each of said children's courts shall be 
held by one or more of the justices of spe- 
cial sessions in their respective divisions, 
as the circumstances require, in such man- 
ner as the said justices Shall by rule provide. 

Whenever, under any provision of law, 
after said separate parts shall be assigned, 
a child under sixteen years of age, unless 
Jointly charged with one or more persons 
above that age, is taken into custody it 
shall be the duty of the officer having the 
child in charge, and at the earliest time 
when a justice will be present, to take such 
child before the children's court, and shall 
not take said child knowingly to any city 
magistrates’ court, or before any city magis- 


THE CHARTER OP THE CITY OP NEW YORK. 


149 


tra^e, except for the purpose of giving ball. 
If through Inadvertence any such child shall 
be arraigned before a city magistrate. It 
shall be the duty of such magistrate, as 
soon as the age of such child is discovered, 
to transfer the case to the children's court, 
in the division In which such case belong, 
and if any papers have been prepared, to 
indorse the transfer thereon and to send the 
same with the officer to said court; and it is 
hereby made the duty of the officer to take 
such child with said papers to the children's 
court with all convenient speed, to be heard 
and disposed of, pursuant to law by the jus- 
tice there presiding. The justices of the 
court of special sessions for the first divis- 
ion shall appoint a clerk and a deputy clerk 
for the children’s court, first division, and 
such and so many officers and attendants, 
including a stenographer, as may be neces- 
sary, whose salaries, except the clerk, shall 
be fixed by the board of aldermen, on the 
recommendation of the board of estimate and 
apportionment. The salary of the clerk of 
the children’s court, first division, shall be 
three thousand dollars per year, payable in 
monthly installments, and the clerk, ap- 
pointed by the board of city magistrates in 
office at the time this act shall go Into ef- 
fect, shall continue in office as clerk until 
removed therefrom by expiration of term 
or by due process of law. 

The justices of the court of special ses- 
sions for the second division shall appoint a 
clerk and a deputy clerk for the children's 
court, second division, borough of Brooklyn, 
and such and so many officers and attend- 
ants, including a stenographer, as may be 
necessary, whose salaries, except the clerk, 
shall be fixed by the board of aldermen on 
the recommendation of the board of estimate 
and apportionment. The salary of the clerk 
shall be two thousand five hundred dollars 
per year, payable in monthly installments, 
and he shall continue in office as clerk until 
removed therefrom by expiration of term or 
by due process of law. The term of office of 
clerk of the children’s court, second division, 
shall be for five years. The justice shall 
have authority to appoint or designate not 
mere than three . discreet persons of good 
character to serve as probation officers dur- 
ing the pleasure of the court. It shall be 
the duty of said probation officers to make 
such investigation as may be required by 
the court, to be present in court in order to 
represent the interests of the child; when 
tile case is heard, to furnish to the court 
such information and assistance as he may 
require, and to take charge of any child be- 
fore and after trial as may be directed by 
the court. 

The said courts shall be held in some 
building separate and apart from one used 
for the trial of persons above the age of 
sixteen charged with any criminal offense. 

Nothing herein contained shall affect any 
provisions of law with respect to the tem- 
porary commitment by magistrates of chil- 
dren as witnesses for the trial of any crim- 
inal case. For statistical purposes the clerk 
of each of said children's courts, annually, 
at such time and in such form as the board 
of city magistrates of the first division may 
require, as to t,he children's court in the 
first division, and in such form as the jus- 
tices of the court of special sessions in the 
second division may require as to such 
children’s court in Brooklyn, shall prepare 
in duplicate a report of the arrests, commit- 
ments and dispositions, with such other data 
as said board may require, of all persons 
arraigned in or brought before such court 
during the year; one of which said duplicates 


shall be transmitted to the board of city 
magistrates in their respective divisions to 
be included in its annual report; and the 
other shall be transmitted to the mayor. — 
Added by Laws of 1902, Chapter 690, and 
amended by Laws of 1903, Chapter 159. 

Additional powers and duties ns to 

children’s cases. 

Sec. 1419. In addition to the powers, duties 
and jurisdiction heretofore conferred, the 
court of special sessions of the first division 
and the justices thereof, and the court of 
special sessions of the second division, ex- 
cept In the boroughs of Queens and Rich- 
mond, and the justices thereof, shall super- 
sede the city magistrate in said first and 
second divisions, except in the boroughs of 
Queens and Richmond, in the trial, deter- 
mination and disposition of all cases con- 
cerning children under sixteen years of age, 
unless upon a criminal charge in which two 
or more persons are jointly charged and 
some of them are above that age; and the 
said courts and the justices thereof shall have 
and exercise the powers, duties and jurisdic- 
tion as follows: 

1. The said court of special sessions of the 
first division, and the said court of special 
sessions of the second division, except in 
the boroughs of Queens and Richmond, shall 
hear and adjudicate all charges of a crim- 
inal nature against children under sixteen 
years of age, of the grade of, or, under sec- 
tion six hundred and ninety-nine of the 
penal code, permitted to be tried as mis- 
demeanors, including all charges coming 
within the summary jurisdiction of magis- 
trates, and impose or suspend sentence or 
remit to probation pursuant to law. But all 
such hearings and trials shall, except as 
hereinafter provided, be had in a court room 
exclusively used for the hearing and dis- 
position of children’s cases. 

2. Such court as provided in section four- 
teen hundred and eighteen, shall be open 
each day, except Sundays and legal holidays, 
during such hours as the justices of special 
sessions in their respective divisions, by 
public rule shall determine, and one of said 
justices shall be in attendance who shall 
possess and exercise, as to all matters aris- 
ing in said court, all the powers and juris- 
diction now conferred on city magistrates, 
and, unless an objection shall be interposed 
by the prosecution or the defense at or be- 
fore the time the defendant, or defendants, 
are called upon to plead to a charge graded, 
or permitted by law, as a misdemeanor, all 
the powers and jurisdiction of a court of 
special sessions. 

3. If an objection be interposed, as pro- 
vided for in the preceding subdivision, or 
thereafter if permitted by the justice pre- 
siding. the case shall be adjourned to some 
future day, when either in the same build- 
ing or at the main court as the justice of 
special sessions shall regulate, a trial may 
be had before three justices. 

4. Any order, determination or judgment 
of one of said justices when sitting alone, 
pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or any 
two of said justices when three are sitting, 
shall be the order, determination or judg- 
ment of said children’s court sitting as a 
court of special sessions. 

5. Section fourteen hundred and twelve, 
as to the adoption of rules, is hereby extend- 
ed so as to cover said children’s courts. — 
Added by Laws of 1902, Chapter 590, and 
amended by Laws of 1903. Chapter 159. 


TITLE 4. 

; \ 

THE MARSHALS. 

Marshals of the cities of New York and 
Brooklyn continued. 

Sec. 1424. The marshals in The City of New 
York as heretofore known and bounded, and 
the marshals and constables in the cities of 
Brooklyn and Long Island City, and in the 
several towns mentioned in section one of 
chapter one of this act, in office at the time 
this act shall take effect, shall continue to 
hold such offices and perform the duties there- 
of until midnight of the thirty-first day of 
January, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
and said terms of office shall then expire, 
except those of the marshals in the late City 
of New York and the marshals in the late 
City of Brooklyn, who shall continue to be 
marshals of The City of New York, as hereby 
constituted, till the expiration of their re- 
spective terms. 

Mayor to appoint marshals) term of 
office. 

Sec. 1425. On or before the twentieth day of 
January, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
the mayor of The City of New York shall 
appoint ten marshals in the manner provided 
in the next section, who shall hold their re- 
spective offices for six years; and there shall 
be appointed in like manner every sixth 
year thereafter the same number of marshals 
for the like terms. Any person appointed after 
the commencement of the term, as herein 
prescribed, shall hold only until the expira- 
tion of the term and until a successor Is duly 
appointed and has qualified. 

Id.; marshals fop the boroughs of 
Queens and Richmond. 

Sec. 1426. Six of said marshals so to be 
appointed shall be residents of the borough 
of Queens, and four residents of the bor- 
ough of Richmond; and said marshals shall 
be assigned by the mayor to such duty with- 
in the boroughs wherein they reside re- 
spectively as is or may be provided by law. 

Successors to present marshals of New 
York city. 

Sec. 1427. On the expiration of the terms 
of said marshals of The City of New York 
mentioned in the last clause of section four- 
teen hundred and twenty-four of this act, 
the said mayor shall appoint their succes- 
sors for terms of six years respectively. 

Sec. 1428. Repealed. Laws 1902, Chapter 
580. 

Sec. 1429. Repealed. Laws 1902, Chapter 
580. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE ACQUISITION OF LANDS AND 
INTERESTS THEREIN FOR 
PUBLIC PURPOSES. 

Procedure for acquirement of lands 
and interests therein. 

Sec. 1435. Whenever the City of New York, 
or any of the departments, including the de- 
partment of education, boards or officers of 
the said city government, shall be authorized 
by law to acquire title to real estate or any 
tenements, hereditaments, corporeal or in- 
corporeal rights in the same, for any public 
use or purpose by condemnation, the pro- 
ceeding for that purpose shall be taken and 
conducted in the manner prescribed in this 
title, except as provided in section fourtss* 
hundred and forty-eight of this act. 


150 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Maps to be prepared; entry on item- 
ises for examination thereof. 

Sec. 1436. When any such lands have been 
selected, and the said department board or 
officer has determined to take proceedings 
for the acquisition of the same, said de- 
partment, board or officers shall cause two 
similar surveys, maps or plans thereof to 
be prepared, one of which shall be filed in 
the office of the said department, board or 
officer, and the other of which shall be filed 
in the office of the register or county clerk 
of the county in which the lands are situ- 
ated; and it shall be lawful for the duly au- 
thorized agents of the said department 
board or officer, and all persons acting under 
his or its authority, and by his or its direc- 
tion, to entei, in the daytime, into and upon 
any and all lands, tenements, and heredita- 
ments which it shall be necessary to enter 
into and upon for the purpose of making such 
surveys, maps or plans or for the purpose 
of making such soundings or borings as the 
said department board or officer may deem 
necessary. 

Approval of board of estimate. 

Sec. 1436a. It shall be the duty of the de- 
partment board or officer which has selected 
lands as aforesaid to submit the matter to 
the board of estimate and apportionment, 
and no further proceedings shall be taken 
until the acquisition of said lands is ap- 
proved and authorized by a majority vote 
of all the members of the said board of es- 
timate and apportionment at a meeting of 
said board duly called and held. Upon such 
authorization it shall be the duty of the cor- 
poration counsel to file in the office of the 
clerk of the county where the lands or any 
part thereof are situated a notice of the 
pendency of proceedings for the acquisition 
of said lands. The said notice shall briefly 
state the object of the proceedings and shall 
contain a description by metes and bounds 
of the property affected thereby. It shall 
also state the names of such cff the persons 
Interested as owners or otherwise as may 
be known to the corporation counsel, and in 
case any of such persons interested as 
owners or otherwise are unknown a state- 
ment to that effect shall be made in such 
notice. Such notice, from the time of filing, 
shall be constructive notice to a purchaser 
or incumbrancer of the lands affected there- 
by from or against any person interested as 
owner or otherwise with respect to whom the 
notice is directed to be indexed. 

Agreement of board of estimate with 

owner. 

Sec. 1436b. Said board of estimate and ap- 
portionment shall have power and is hereby 
authorized to agree as to the purchase price 
of the lands and interests therein selected 
as aforesaid or any part thereof. If no such 
agreement is reached, or if any such agree- 
ment does not include the whole of the lands 
and interest therein, the said board shall 
direct the corporation counsel to institute 
proceedings for the condemnation of said 
lands and interest therein or such part 
thereof in respect to which no agree- 
ment has been reached as aforesaid, and 
thereupon it shall be the duty of the 
corporation counsel to conduct proper pro- 
ceedings thereunto in the manner provided 
in this chapter. When any agreement as 
to price has been reached as aforesaid the 
amount agreed upon shall bear interest from 
the date of said agreement, and the time of 
vesting title in The City of New Yoak 
tc the lands affected by such agree- 
ment shall be the date of the de- 
livery of the deed, and if no time be 
specified for the delivery of the deed title 


shall vest upon the date of the final confirma- 
tion of the report of commissioners, as here- 
inafter provided, as to property concerning 
which no agreement has been reached unless 
the date of vesting title is fixed by resolution 
as hereinafter provided. 

Submission of offer to sell by owner. 

Sec. 1436c. In all cases, where the owner of 
lands selected as aforesaid or any part 
thereof is not under legal disability to convey 
title to real property such owner may at any 
time before proof of value is submitted to 
the commissioners of estimate hereinafter 
provided for, submit a written offer to the 
board of estimate and apportionment to sell 
and convey such owner’s land or interest 
therein at a specified price. Such written 
offer shall not be given in evidence before the 
commissioners of estimate hereinafter pro- 
vided for, and must not be considered by 
them. If such written offer is not accepted 
before proof of value is submitted to the 
commissioners of estimate hereinafter pro- 
vided for, provided ten daj^s shall have 
lapsed from the time of making such offer, 
and the compensation awarded thereafter in 
said proceedings by the commissioners of 
estimate to such person or owner making 
such offer exceeds the price specified in such 
offer such owner making such offer shall be 
entitled to his taxable costs and disburse- 
ments as in an action and in the discretion 
of the supreme court upon application made 
at a special term thereof to an additional al- 
lowance of a sum of money not exceeding 
five per centum upon the amount of such 
offer, but in no event more than two thousand 
dollars. 

Appointment and duties of commis- 
sioners of estimate. 

Sec. 1437. After the said maps, plans or sur- 
veys shall have been filed, and after the ac- 
quisition of 'the lands and interest therein 
shall have been authorized by the board of 
estimate.and apportionment, as hereinbefore 
provided, the corporation counsel, for and on 
behalf of The City of New York, shall cause 
notice to be published in the City Record 
of his intention to make application to the 
supreme court for the appointment of com- 
missioners of estimate and appraisal, which 
notice shall specify the time and place of such 
application, and shall briefly state the object 
e£ the application, and shall describe, gen- 
erally, the lands intended to be taken. Said 
notice shall be published in ten successive 
issues of said City Record, and thereafter, 
upon the completion of such publication, said 
corporation counsel shall present to the court 
a petition, signed and verified by the mayor 
of said city, setting forth the action taken by 
the department, board or officer, with refer- 
ence thereto, and the authorization of the pro- 
ceedings, by a majority vote of all members 
of the board of estimate and apportionment, 
the filing of said map, plan or survey, and 
of a notice of the pendency of the pro- 
ceeding, and praying for the appointment of 
such commissioners of estimate and ap- 
praisal. At the time and place mentioned in 
said notice, unless the said court shall ad- 
journ the said application to a subsequent 
day, and in that event, at the time and place 
to which the same may be adjourned, the 
court, upon due proof to its satisfaction, of 
the publication of such notice, and upon 
filing the said petition, shall name three dis- 
creet and disinterested persons, being citizens 
of the United States, all of whom shall be 
residents of the borough where the property 
to be taken is located, as commissioners of 
estimate and appraisal for the purpose of per- 
forming the duties hereinafter mentioned. In 


such order the court shall fix the time and 
place for a hearing as to the qualifications 
of the persons named as commissioners. Ten 
days notice of the naming or appointment of 
the commissioners shall be given by the 
corporation counsel, by mail or otherwise, to 
such parties, or their attorneys, as may have 
filed a notice of claim or of appearance in 
the proceeding, and such notice shall be pub- 
lished in ten successive issues of the City 
Record. Said notice shall specify the time 
and place when parties may be heard at a 
special term of the supreme court, as to the 
qualifications of the persons named ,as com- 
missioners of estimate and appraisal. The 
persons named as commissioners shall attend 
at the time and place appointed, and may be 
examined under oath, as to their qualifica- 
tions to act. They shall be subject to the 
right of challenge by any person having an 
interest in said proceedings, upon any ground 
which would disqualify a judge or juror, and 
such challenge must be tried and determined 
by the court, and the determination of the 
court may be excepted to and reviewed in 
the manner now prescribed by law in re- 
spect to the challenge of jurors. Should the 
court sustain the challenge to any commis- 
sioner. another person must be named or ap- 
pointed in his stead. The person or persons 
thus substituted shall be subject to challenge 
in the same way, as above provided for, to 
be heard and determined by the court, at 
such time and place as the court may direct. 
Commissioners' oath. 

Sec. 1437a. The persons finally appointed 
commissioners of estimate and appraisal, 
after the trial and determination of any 
challenge, as hereinbefore provided, shall 
severally take and subscribe an oath or 
affirmation as prescribed by the thirteenth 
article of the constitution of this state, and 
shall forthwith file the same in the office 
of the clerk of the supreme court in the 
judicial district in which said lands are 
situated, and thereupon it shall be the duty 
of the said commissioners of estimate and 
appraisal, after having viewed the said lands, 
tenements, hereditaments and premises re- 
quired for public uses and purposes, as above 
set forth, to make a just and equitable esti- 
mate of the loss and damage to the respective 
owners, lessees, parties or persons respective- 
ly entitled to or interested in the said 
lands, tenements, hereditaments and prem- 
ises. But no meeting of such commissioners 
shall be held at the office of the corporation 
counsel, or at the office of any party inter- 
ested in the proceeding, or in the office of 
the attorney of any such party interested. 
Reports of commissioners of estimate; 
presentation thereof to the court; 
when title to vest in city. 

Sec. 1438. The said commissioners of esti- 
mate and appraisal shall make report of their 
proceedings to the supreme court, witn the 
minutes of the testimony taken by them, and 
with the minutes of the proceedings, if any, 
relating to the challenge of any commis- 
sioner, within six months from the date of 
the filing of their oath, as hereinbefore pro- 
vided, under penalty of .forfeiting all fees to 
which they would be entitled, unless an ex- 
tension of time be given to them by the 
supreme court, which extension shall only 
be granted in the discretion of the court, 
upon a written petition containing a full 
statement by such commissioners, of the 
reasons necessary for such an extension, and 
upon notice to the corporation counsel, and 
to the parties, and their attorneys who have 
appeared in said proceeding. Upon such ap- 
plication the court shall have power to make 
such order in the premises in respect to the 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


time and manner, of compleUug the report of 
such commissioners, and in' respect to the 
taking and submission of the proofs »f 
tho parties interested, and the num- 
ber and length of the hearings to be 
held in each week as will enable or 
require the commissioners to complete 
said proceedings on their part with rea- 
sonable despatch, and if it shall appear that 
the said proceeding has been delayed, by 
reason of the inattention, neglect or refusal 
of said commissioners or any of them, to 
act or attend, the court may remove the 
commissioner or commissioners so neglect- 
ing or refusing, and appoint a suitable per- 
son or persons in his or their place. Said 
report shall contain a brief description of the 
several parcels of real estate taken, with a 
reference to the map, plan or survey, show- 
ing the e^act location and boundaries of each 
parcel, a statement of the sum estimated 
and determined upon by them as a just and 
equitable compensation to be made by the 
city, to the owners or persons entitled or 
intei’ested in each parcel so taken, and a 
statement of the respective owners or per- 
sons entitled thereto or interested therein. 
But in all and each and every case or cases, 
where the parties interested, or their respec- 
tive estates or interests, are unknown or 
not fully known to the commissioners of 
appraisal it shall be sufficient for them to set 
forth and state, in general terms, the respec- 
tive sums to be allowed and paid to the own- 
ers of and parties interested therein, gener- 
ally, without specifying the names or estates 
or interests of such owners or parties inter- 
ested, or any or either of them. After the 
commissioners shall have offered the parties 
interested an opportunity to file and make 
objections as provided for in section four- 
teen hundred and forty, then the said report, 
signed by said commissioners or a majority 
of them, shall be filed in the office of the de- 
partment, board or officer, initiating the pro- 
ceeding, and a duplicate of said report shall 
be filed in the office of the clerk of the 
county where the lands are situated and 
thereupon the corporation counsel, or in 
case of his neglect to do so within ten days 
after such filing, then any person interested 
in the proceeding shall give notice that the 
said report will be presented for confirmation 
to the supreme court, at a special term there- 
of, to be held in The City of New York, at a 
time and place to be specified in said notice. 
The said notice shall contain a statement of 
the time and place of the filing of the report, 
and shall be published in ten successive is- 
sues of the City Record, immediately prior 
to the presentation of said report for con- 
firmation, and a copy of said notice shall be 
served, by mail or otherwise, upon the attor- 
ney of each party who may have appeared in 
said proceeding, at least five days prior to the 
presentation of said report for confirmation. 
Confirmation by supreme court. 

Sec. 1438a. Upon the hearing of the appli- 
cation for the confirmation of the said re- 
port, signed by the said commissioners, or a 
majority of them, the said supreme court at 
a special term thereof held in and for the 
judicial district as aforesaid, shall, by 
order, after hearing any matter which 
may be alleged against the same, 
either confirm said report in whole or 
in part or refer the same back to the same 
commissioners for revisal and correction, 
or to new commissioners, to be appointed 
by the said court, to reconsider the subject- 
matter thereof, and the said commissioners 
to whom the said report shall be so referred 
shall return the said report, corrected and 
revised, or a new report, to be made by 
them, as aforesaid, in the premises, to the 
said court, without unnecessary delay, and 


the same on being so returned shall be con- 
firmed or again referred by the said court, 
as justice shall require, and such report 
when confirmed by said court, in whole or in 
part, shall be final and conclusive, as well 
upon the said city and the said department 
or board as upon the owners, lessees, persons 
and parties interested in and entitled to the 
lands, tenements, hereditaments and prem- 
ises mentioned in said report, and also upon 
all other persons Whomsoever. And on the 
final confirmation of said report, the said 
City of New York, except as hereinafter pro- 
vided, shall become and be seized, in fee 
simple absolute, of the lands included in said 
report, the same to be converted, appro- 
priated and used to and for the purposes for 
which the same shall be acquired accord- 
ingly. And thereupon the said city, acting 
by and through the department or board in- 
stituting and having charge of said pro- 
ceeding, shall immediately take possession 
of the same, without any suit or proceedings 
at law for that purpose, and all leases and 
other contracts in regard to the said lands 
so taken, or any part thereof, and all cove- 
nants, contracts or engagements between 
landlords and tenants, or any other contract- 
ing parties, shall, upon the confirmation of 
such reports respectively, cease and deter- 
mine and be absolutely discharged according 
to law. 

Filing, copy of report. 

Sec. 1438b. It shall be the duty of the 
corporation counsel, within ten days after 
the entry of the order confirming the 
report of the commissioners, in a proceeding 
authorized by this chapter to file a copy of 
such order or report in the office Of the reg- 
ister or county clerk of the county in 
whicn the land to be acquired is located. 
There shall be endorsed upon such copy 
order or report a reference to the section and 
block or the sections and blocks on the laud 
map of such County which include the land 
to be taken by such proceeding. The regis- 
ter or county clerk With whom such copy 
order or report shall be filed Shall Index in 
the index of conveyances on each block so 
endorsed on the said copy order or report, a 
statement giving the title of said proceed- 
ing and the date of the entry of said order 
confirming said report. 

When title may he vested by resolu- 
tion. 

Sec, 1439. Should the board of estimate 
and apportionment by a resolution adopted 
by a three-fourths Vote deem it for the public 
interest that the title to the lands and prem- 
ises, or any interest therein, required for any 
public improvement or for any public pur- 
pose and acquired hereunder, should be ac- 
quired by The City of New York at a fixed 
or specified time, the said board of estimate 
and apportionment may direct, by resolution 
passed before or after the application to the 
court for the appointment of commissioners 
of estimate, made under section fourteen 
hundred and thirty-seven of this act, that at 
a date specified ■ in such resolution after 
the filing of the oaths of said comfnissioners, 
the title to any pieoe or parcel of land, or 
to any interest therein, to be ' taken Q“ ac- 
quired in the said proceeding, shall vest in 
The City of New York. Provided, however, 
that where there are buildings upon such 
lands such date of vesting title must be at 
least six months after the filing of the oath 
of the commissioners If the resolution for 
vesting title be passed before the appoint- 
ment of commissioners, and if such resolu- 
tion be passed after the appointment of com- 
missioners the date of vesting title must be 
at least two months after the passing of 
such resolution. At the date so fixed as 
aforesaid the said City of New York shall 


151 


become and be seized in fee of said lands, 
tenements and hereditaments and all inter- 
ests therein in said resolution mentioned, 
that shall or may be acquired as aforesaid, 
the same to be held appropriated, converted 
and used to and for the purposes for which 
the said proceeding is instituted. In such 
cases interest at the legal rate upon the 
sum or sums to which the owners, lessees, 
parties or persons interested in the said real 
estate or interests therein are Justly entitled 
upon the date of the vesting of title in The 
City of New York, as aforesaid, from said 
date to the date of the payment of 
the award made to such owners, lessees, 
parties or persons in interest shall be paid 
as hereinafter set forth. And upon the vest- 
ing of said title, the said city, acting by and 
through the said department board or officer 
conducting said proceeding, shall immediately 
take possession of the lands Included in the 
same and the interests thereby affected, 
without any suit or proceeding at law for 
that purpose. And all leases and other con- 
tracts In regard to said lands so taken, or 
any part thereof, and all covenants, con- 
tracts or engagements between landlords and 
tenants or any other contracting parties 
Bhall, upon the vesting of said title, respec- 
tively cease and determine and be discharged 
according to law. 

Notice of deposit and presentation of 

reports payment of awards with in- 
terest. 

Sec. 1440. The said commissioners of esti- 
mate, before they present their report 
to the supreme court, shall deposit a 
true report or transcript of such esti- 
mate in the office of the department, board 
or officer conducting such proceeding, for the 
Inspection of whomsoever it may concern, 
and shall give daily notice by advertisement 
in the City Record and the corporation news- 
papers. and also, at the option of the cor- 
poration counsel, in other newspapers, not 
exceeding three in number, published in 
said City of New York, for ten days, Sun- 
days and holidays excluded, after depositing 
such report, of the said deposit thereof in 
said office, and any person or persons whose 
rights may be affected thereby, and 
who may object to the same, or any part 
thereof, may, within ten days after the first 
publication of sucl. notice, set forth their ob- 
jections to the same in writing to the said 
commissioners, who shall, after hearing the 
parties so objecting, thereupon reconsider 
tfieir said estimate and assessment, or the 
part or parts thereof so objected to, and in 
case the same shall appear to them to 
quire correction, but not otherwise, tney sn a « 
and may correct the same accordingly. The 
City of New York shall, within two calendar 
months after the confirmation of the said re- 
port, pay to the parties entitled thereto the 
respective sum or sums so estimated and re- 
ported in their favor, respectively, with law- 
ful interest from the date of the- report of 
said commissioners, or if title to said lands 
6hall have vested in the city under section 
fourteen hundred and thirty-nine of this 
act, from the date of said vesting; and in 
default thereof said persons or parties, re- 
spectively, his, her, or their respective heirs, 
executors, administrators, successors or as- 
signs, may, at any time or times after ap- 
plication first made, by him, her, or them 
to the comptroller of The City of New York 
for payment thereof, sue for and recover 
the same with lawful interest, as aforesaid, 
and the costs of suit. 

Upon any application to said comptroller 
the applicant may state that any outstanding 
1 taxes, assessments or other liens may ba 


152 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


deducted from the amount otherwise payable 
to him or her, and in that event the fact 
that there are outstanding taxes, assess- 
ments or other liens shall not impair or 
invalidate such application nor operate as a 
bar to the collection of interest upon the 
amount awarded less the amount of such out- 
standing taxes, assessments or other liens. 

Owner* unknown, infant*, or of nn- 
Hound mind. 

Sec. 1441. Whenever the owners and pro- 
prietors of any lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments and premises to be taken for any of 
the purposes aforesaid, or the party or par- 
ties, person or persons interested therein,' 
or any or either of them, the said owners, 
proprietors, parties or persons, in whose 
favor any such sum or sums or compensa- 
tion shall be so reported, shall be under the 
age of twenty-one years, non compos mentis, 
or absent from The City of New York; and 
also in all cases where the name or names 
of the owner or owners, parties or persons 
entitled unto or interested in any lands, 
tenements, hereditaments or premises that 
may be so taken for any of the purposes 
aforesaid, shall not be set forth or men- 
tioned in said report; or when the said own- 
ers, parties or persons respectively, being 
named therein, cannot, upon diligent in- 
quiry, be found, it shall be the duty of the 
said City of New York to pay the sum or 
sums mentioned in the report as payable, 
or that would be coming to such owners, 
proprietors, parties and persons respective- 
ly, into the supreme court, to be secured, 
disposed of, invested and paid out, as the 
appellate division of the supreme court, in 
said Judicial district, shall direct; and such 
payment shall be as valid and effectual in 
all respects as if made to the said owners, 
proprietors, parties and persons respective- 
ly, themselves, according to their Just rights, 
if they had been known, and had all been 
present, of full age, compos mentis, 
end in default of such payment by 

The City of New York it shall be 
and remain liable for the amount due to 
such owners, proprietors, parties and per- 
sons with lawful interest thereon, from the 
day upon which the title vested in said city; 
and provided, also, that in all and each and 
every case or cases, where any such sum or 
sums or compensation, so to be reported by 
said commissioners in favor of any person 
or persons, party or parties whatsoever, 
whether named or not named in said re- 
port, shall be paid to any person or persons, 
party or parties whatsoever, when the same 
shall of right belong to and ought to have 
been paid to some other person or persons, 
party or parties, it shall bo lawful for the 
person or persons, party or parties to whom 
the said sum or sums ought to have been 
paid, to sue for and recover the same, with 
lawful interest and costs of suit, as so much 
money had and received to his, her or 
their use, by the person or persons, 
party or parties, respectively, to whom the 
same shall have been so paid. Payment of 
the compensation awarded by said commis- 
sioners of estimate to the persons named 
In their report (if not infants or persons of 
unsound mind) shall, in the absence of no- 
tice to the comptroller of The City of New 
York of adverse claims thereto, protect said 
city. The said commissioners of estimate 
shall include and set forth in their Teport 
the names of the respective owners, lessees, 
parties and persons entitled unto or inter- 
ested in said report, and each and every part 
lid parcel thereof, as far as the same shall 
be ascertained by them, and add a designa- 
tion and description of such respective lands 


and parcels of land aforesaid, and also the 
several respective sums estimated as and for 
the compensation and recompense or allow- 
ance to be made for the loss and damage 
of the respective owners of the fee or inher- 
itance of such lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments and premises respectively, and for the 
loss and damage of the respective owners 
of the leasehold estate, or their interest 
therein, separately. And the said commis- 
sioners shall also include in said report 
the amount of their fees and all costs and 
disbursements for expenses of surveys, maps 
and other things. 

Appeal. 

Sec. 1442. Within twenty days after notice 
of the Confirmation of the report of the com- 
missioners as provided for in section four- 
teen hundred and thirty-eight-a of this act 
any party interested and deeming himself 
or themselves aggrieved may appeal by no- 
tice in writing to the other party, to the ap- 
pellate division of the supreme court in said 
judicial district from the appraisal and re- 
port of the commissioners. Such appeal 
shall be heard on due notice thereof, being 
given, according to the rules and practice 
of said court. On the hearing of such appeal, 
the court may direct a new appraisal and de- 
termination of any question passed upon, 
by the same or new commissioners, in its 
discretion, but from any determination of 
the special term, an appeal may be taken 
upon the merits to the said appellate division 
of said court, and from any determination 
of the said appellate division any party, if 
aggrieved, may take an appeal to the court 
of appeals, but only as to a question affecting 
the principle of the assessment of damages 
by the said commissioners, or a question re- 
lating to the challenge of a commissioner 
or to the conduct of the said commissioners 
or any of them indicating impropriety, bias, 
neglect or other disqualification. An appeal 
may be taken to the court of appeals as pro- 
vided for in section nine hundred and eighty- 
nine of the Greater New York Charter. In 
the case of a new appraisal the second re- 
port shall be filed and notice thereof given, 
and such review, upon appeal or otherwise, 
be had as in the case of an original report, 
and so, from time to time, until a report 
shall be presented which the said court 
at special term shall finally affirm, and 
shall be affirmed upon appeal, should ahy 
appeal be taken. But the taking of an 
appeal by any person or persons shall not 
operate to stay the proceedings under this 
title except as to the particular parcel of real 
estate with which the said appeal is con- 
cerned. !?hch appeal shall be heard upon 
the evidence taken before such commission- 
ers and any affidavits as to irregularities. 

Removal, etc., of commissioners of es- 
timate. 

Sec. 1443. In cash of death, resignation, 
Insanity, disqualification, refusal or neglect 
to act or removal of any such com- 
missioner of estimate appointed as in 
this chapter provided, it shall and may 
be lawful for the court aforesaid, at 
a special term thereof, held in the 
judicial district as aforesaid, on the applica- 
tion of the department or board of The City 
of New York, conducting said proceeding, as 
often as such event may happen/ to appoint 
a discreet and disinterested person, being a 
citizen of the United States and a resident of 
the borough where the property to be taken 
is loaated in the place and stead of such 
commissioner so dying, resigning, becoming 
insane or disqualified, refusing or neglecting 
to act, or removed, and the surviving com- 


— -J— ~ 

miseioners, asj the case may be, shall have 

full power to proceed in the execution of the 
duties of their appointment until the suc- 
cessor of the commissioner so dying, becom- 
ing insane, resigning, being disqualified, neg- 
lecting or refusing to act, or removed, shall 
be appointed. Ten days’ notice of ©aid ap- 
plication shall be given to all parties who. 
have appeared in the proceeding. Such suc- 
cessor appointed as aforesaid shall possess 
the same qualification© and be subject to 
challenge upon the same grounds and in the 
same general manner as hereinbefore pro- 
vided for; and the time and place for such 
challenge shall be specified in the order ap- 
pointing such successor. 

Powers of commissioners and of n ma- 
jority thereof: fees, expenses. 

Sec. 1444. In each and every case of the 
appointment of commissioners under this 
act. It shall be competent and lawful for any 
two of such commissioners, so appointed as 
aforesaid, to proceed to and execute and per- 
form the trusts and duties of their said ap- 
pointment, and their act© shall be as valid 
and effectual as the acts of all the commis- 
sioners if they had acted together would have 
been; and, further, in all cases, the acts, pro- 
ceedings and decisions of a major part of 
such of the commissioners as shall be acting 
in the premises, shall be as valid, binding and 
effectual as if the said commissioners named 
and appointed for such purpose© had all con- 
curred and joined therein. In the said pro- 
ceedings any of the said commissioners of 
estimate may issue subpoenas and admin- 
ister oaths to witnesses. Each commissioner 
appointed under and by virtue of this chapter, 
who shall enter upon the duties of 
his appointment, shall be entitled to 
receive upon the confirmation of the 
report or other determination of the pro- 
ceeding, not exceeding ten dollars for each 
day upon which he attends a meeting of said 
commissioners and is actually and neces- 
sarily employed in the performance of the 
duties imposed upon them by this act at the 
offices provided for said commissioners or at 
a meeting of the commissioners to view the 
premises, besides all reasonable expenses, to 
be taxed and allowed by said court for maps, 
surveys, clerk hire and other necessary ex- 
penses and disbursements and the same 
shall be included in, considered and paid as 
part of the expenses of acquiring the lands 
or interest therein for the acquirement of 
which the said proceeding is instituted. 

Amendments of defects. 

Sec. 1445. The special term of the supremo 
court in the judicial district, as aforesaid. 
shall have power at any time to amend any 
defect or informality in any of the special 
proceedings authorized by this chapter that 
may be necessary, or to permit any person 
having an interest therein to be made a parly 
thereto, or to relieve from any default, mis- 
take or irregularity, or to direct such further 
notices to be given to any party in interest 
as it deems proper. And the said court may, 
at any time remove any' of said commission- 
ers of estimate who, in its judgment, shall 
be incapable of serving, or who shall, for any 
reason in its judgment, be an unfit person to 
serve as commissioner. The cause of such 
removal Shall be specified in the order 
making the same. If in any particular it 
shall at any time be found necessary to 
amend any pleading, proceeding, or to sup- 
ply any defect therein arising in the course 
of any special proceeding authorized by this 
act, the same may be amended or supplied 
in such a manner as shall be directed by. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


153 


the said special term of the supreme court, 
which is hereby authorized to make such 
amendment or correction. 

Corporation counsel to appear anti 
protect interests of the city; comp- 
troller to furnish clerks and offices. 

Sec. 1446. The corporation counsel shall, 
either In person, or by such counsel as he 
shall designate for the purpose, appear for 
and protect the interests of the city in a'.l 
such proceedings in court and before the 
commissioners of estimate. It shall be the 
duty of the comptroller of The City of New 
York to furnish the commissioners of esti- 
mate and appraisal who may be appointed 
in any proceeding provided for in this chap- 
ter such necessary clerks and other employes 
and to provide such suitable offices as they 
may require to enable them to fully and sat- 
isfactorily discharge the duties imposed upon 
them. 

Source of payment of awards and ex- 
penses. 

Sec. 1447. The amounts of the awards 
made in a proceeding brought under this 
chapter for the value of lands and interests 
therein taken hereunder, shall be paid 
out of the fund created by the act, 
ordinance or resolution authorizing the 
acquirement of the said lands or 
interests therein, and the money 
for the payment thereof, together with the 
fees of the commissioners of estimate, the 
compensation of such necessary clerks or 
assistants as they may employ, and all other 
necessary expenses in and about the special 
proceeding instituted under this chapter, in- 
cluding the fees of counsel employed by the 
corporation counsel in the proceeding, and 
all other reasonable expenses incurred by 
said corporation counsel in the conduct of 
said proceeding, shall be also paid out of 
the said fund so provided. Such fees and 
expenses shall not be paid until they have 
been taxed at a special term of the supreme 
court in the judicial district as aforesaid, 
upon five days’ notice to the corporation 
counsel of The City of New York. Upon 
such taxation due proof of the nature and 
extent of the services rendered and dis- 
bursements charged shall be furnished and 
no unnecessary costs or charges shall be al- 
lowed. All such costs, fees and expenses 
or disbursements to be taxed, as aforesaid, 
shall be stated in detail in the bill of costs 
and charges and expenses, and shall be ac- 
companied by such proof of the reasonable- 
ness and necessity thereof, as is now required 
by law and tire practice of the said court 
upon taxation of costs and disbursements in 
other special proceedings or actions in said 
court. The said proof shall be made by a 
statement duly verified in which shall be set 
forth in addition to other matters required 
by law and practice the respective dates of 
the rendition of services, and in the case 
of commissioners, and of any clerks who may 
receive a per diem allowance, the number of 
hours or the time necessarily occupied upon 
each of such respective dates. And no such 
claim for compensation shall be taxed, al- 
lowed or paid unless It be accompanied by a 
certificate of the comptroller of the city of 
New York setting forth that the same has 
been audited and examined, and further cer- 
tifying the result of such audit and exami- 
nation. 

What proceedings excepted from pro- 
visions of this chapter. 

Sec. 1448. The provisions of this chapter 
shall not apply to any proceedings for the 
purpose of opening any streets, avenues or 
public places, parks or parkways, or to any 


proceedings for the improvement of or in 
connection with the water supply of The 
City of New York, or for the acquisition of 
lands for sewers or drains as provided in 
section three hundred and ninety-six of this 
act, or for the acquisition of wharf property 
for the improvement of the water-front of 
said city, or to any proceedings, of any na- 
ture, instituted prior to the time of the 
taking effect of this act, and such proceed- 
ing shall be conducted in all respects as If 
this act had not been passed. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE STREETS. 

Stages and omnibnsest consents of 
property owners necessary before 
franchise granted. 

Sec. 1458. No stage or omnibus route, 
or authority to run stages or omnibuses 
l.i The City of New York, shall here- 
after be granted by the board of aider- 
men, unless a majority of the owners of 
property upon the streets, in or upon which 
any such route or privilege is to be operated, 
shall before the board of aldermen act on 
the subject, first consent In writing thereto. 

Application to mayor, etc.; before 
route established. 

Sec. 1459. Before any route for the running 
of omnibuses or stages shall be established 
or allowed to be operated in said city, except 
as provided in this act, the application 
therefor shall be made In writing to the 
mayor of said city, specifying the route pro- 
posed to be established and the number of 
stages or omnibuses proposed to be run 
thereon; and unless the said mayor shall 
communicate such application to the board 
of aldermen with his approval thereof, and 
said board of aldermen after receiving such 
communication and approval shall vote in 
favor thereof by a three-fourths vote of all 
the members, no such route shall be estab- 
lished or operated; and upon such favorable 
action such route may be established and 
operated accordingly and the ownership 
thereof may be transferred. 

Stage route to be disposed of like otber 
franchises. 

Sec. 1460. Any stage route or privilege 
hereafter granted by the board of aldermen 
shall be disposed of in the manner provided 
by law for the disposition of the franchises 
of said city. 

Not to be run exeept in conformity 
witb preceding sections or as herein- 
after provided. 

Sec. 1461. It shall not be lawful to run 
stages or omnibuses in The City of New 
York, as constituted by this act, except in 
conformity with the preceding sections, and 
no stage route shall after April first, nine- 
teen hundred and. one, be established or op- 
erated upon that portion of any street, av- 
enue, road or highway in which a street sur- 
face railway or stage route is or shall be 
lawfully established, and in operation for a 
distance greater than one thousand feet, 
without first obtaining the consent of the 
corporation owning such railway or stage 
route, but nothing in this act shall be con- 
structed to affect the right possessed by any 
company to operate stage routes or exten- 
sions then established and in lawful opera- 
tion, nor to affect any authority conferred 
upon any such company to acquire rights and 
privileges under chapter six hundred and 
fifty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred, 1 
nor to affect any acts heretofore done there- 
under. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

General Statutes. 

Title 1. Commercial paper during epi- 
demic. 

Title 2. Board of city record. 

Title 3. General provisions. 

Title 4. Coroners. 

TITLE 1. 

COMMERCIAL, PAPER DURING EPI- 
DEMIC. 

Persons, etc., in infected district may 
liave names, etc., registered by city 
clerk. 

Sec. 1499. Whenever the board of health 
shall, by public notice, designate any portion 
or district of The City of New York as being 
the seat of any infectious or contagious dis- 
ease, and declare communication with such 
portion or district dangerous, or shall pro- 
hibit such communication, it shall be the 
duty of the city clerk during the oontinuance 
of such disease in such district, to provide 
and keep in his office a book for the purpose 
of registering, in alphabetical order, the 
names, firms and places of business of any 
inhabitant of the city who shall desire such 
registry to be made. 

Id.; must register place at which com- 
mercial papar to be presented. 

Sec. 1500. It shall be the duty of all persons 
and firms usually resident or doing business 
within such infected district to register, in 
the book so provided by the said city clerk, 
their names or firms, with the place or places 
out of such infected district, but within The 
City of New York to which they may have 
removed the transaction of their business, or 
to which they may desire any notices to be 
sent or served, or any notes, drafts or bills 
to be presented for acceptance or for pay- 
ment. The sum of twenty-five cents may 
be claimed and received by the said clerk for 
every such registry; but the book in which 
the same shall be entered shall be at all 
times during office hours, open to public ex- 
amination, free of all charges. 

Commercial paper may be presented 
at place designated. 

Sec. 1501. During the continuance of any 
such disease in such infected district, all 
drafts, notes and b^ls, which by law are re- 
quired to be presented for acceptance or for 
payment, may be presented for such purpose 
at the place so designated in such registry, 
and all notices of non-acceptance and non- 
payment of any note, draft or bill, or of 
protest for such non-acceptance or non-pay- 
ment, may be served by leaving the same at 
the place so designated. 

On failure to register, commercial pa- 
per may be presented to city clerk. 

3ec. 1502. In case any person or firm usually 
resident or doing business within such infect- 
ed district shall neglect to make and cause 
to be entered in the book so provided, the 
registry herein required, all notes, drafts or 
bills which by law are required to be pre- 
sented to such person or firm for acceptance 
or for payment, may be presented to the said 
city clerk during the continuance of such 
disease, at any time during office hours, and 
demand of acceptance or payment thereof 
may be made of the said clerk, to the same 
purpose and with the same effect as 
if the same had been presented and accept- 
ance or payment demanded of such person or 
firm at their usual place of doing business. 


154 


THE . CHARIER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


On fnilnre to register, notice of pro- 
test. etc., may be served by leaving 
at post-ollice. 

Sec. 1503. In case of the omission to make 
the registry herein required, all notices of 
the nonacceptance or nonpayment of an$- 
note, draft, or bill, or of protest for such 
nonacceptance or nonpayment, may be served 
on any person or firm usually resident or 
doing business within such infected district, 
by leaving the same at one of the post-offices 
for the said city, which service shall be as 
valid and effectual as if the notices had 
been served personally on such person or one 
of such firm at his or their usual place of 
doing business. 

When epidemic deemed to have sub- 
sided. 

Sec. 1504. Whenever proclamation shall be 
made by the board of health or other proper 
authority of the city, that an infectious or 
contagious disease in any such infected dis- 
trict has subsided, it shall be deemed to have 
subsided, for all purposes contemplated in 
this title. 

TITLE 2. 

A BOARD OF CITY RECORD. 

City record, board ofj publication and 
contents; newspapers to be desig- 
nated in which corporate notices to 
be udvertised. 

Sec. 1526. There shall be published daily, 
Sundays and legal holidays excepted, under 
a contract to be made as hereinafter pro- 
vided, a paper to be known as the City Rec- 
ord. And said City Record, and the news- 
papers now by law designated as corporation 
newspapers in the present city of Brooklyn, 
shall be the only papers tc be included with- 
in the term corporation newspapers as the 
same is used anywhere in this act; but no 
notice or advertisement shall be inserted in 
any of said newspapers now by law desig- 
nated as corporation newspapers in said city 
of Brooklyn except such as respect matters 
occurring within or relating to the borough 
of Brooklyn exclusively and the aggregate 
amount to be paid to said newspapers now 
designated by law as corporations newspa- 
pers, in said city of Brooklyn, for the publica- 
tion of all advertisements provided for by 
this act, shall never exceed in any year, 
the sum now agreed to be paid to said news- 
papers annually by said city of Brooklyn. 
The mayor, corporation counsel and comp- 
troller shall constitute the board of City 
Record. Said board, by a majority vote, shall 
appoint a proper person, together with such 
assistants as may be required, to supervise 
•»-— preparation and publication of the same, 
and they shall also fix the rates of compensa- 
tion of said supervisor and his assistants. 
All the expenses connected with its publi- 
cation and distribution, except the salary cf 
the person appointed to supervise the same, 
and tho salaries of his assistants, shall bp 
covered by a contract for printing, to be made 
in the same manner as other contracts. The 
board of estimate and apportionment shall 
provide for all the necessary expenses of 
conducting the said City Record. There shall 
be inserted in said City Record nothing aside 
from such official matters as are expressly 
authorized. The contract for the publication 
of the City Record shall provide for furnish- 
ing, free of charge, to The City of New Yoik, 
not more than two thousand copies thereof, 
also for a gratuitous distribution to every 
newspaper regularly printed in The City of 
New York, when it shall apply for the same, 
of two copies, and to every public library or 
public institution in said city which shall 
apply for the same, of one copy. Copies of 
tile same shall be sold by the supervisor at 


a price to be fixed by the officers making the 
contract, and the proceeds thereof shall be 
paid over to the city. All advertising re- 
quired to be done for the city, except as in 
this act otherwise specially provided, and all 
notices required by law or ordinances to be 
published in corporation papers, shall be in- 
serted, at the public expense, only in the City 
Record, and a publication therein shall be 
a sufficient compliance with any law or or- 
dinance requiring publication of such matters 
or notices; but there may be inserted in two 
morning and two evening, and two weekiy 
or semi-weekly papers published in the 
English language, and in one paper pub- 
lished in the German language, all in 
said city to be designated at any time 
by said board of City Record, brief ad- 
vertisements, calling attention to any 
contracts intended to be awarded or bonds to 
be sold, and referring for full information to 
said City Record; said designation of such 
newspapers to continue in effect until another 
or different designation shall be made by said 
board. Where such notices and advertise- 
ments respect matters occurring within or 
relating to the borough of Brooklyn, they 
shall also be published in such newspapers 
as are now by law designated as corporation 
newspapers in the city of Brooklyn, the rates 
of payment therefor not to exceed the com- 
pensation now paid to said newspapers for 
like advertisements in the city of Brooklyn 
or county of Kings. In case, however, of the 
sale of bonds or stocks of said city or of any 
real estate belonging to the city, such ad- 
vertisements may be also inserted in such 
other newspapers published in said city as 
said board may determine in the case of each 
sale. But nothing herein contained shall 
prevent the publication elsewhere of any ad- 
vertisement required by law; provided, how- 
ever, that no such publication shall be made 
unless the same is authorized by concurrent 
vote of the members of said board. No 
money shall be paid from the city treasury, 
and no action shall be maintained and no 
judgment obtained against The City of New 
York, as constituted by this act, for any ad- 
vertising done after April thirtieth, eighteen 
hundred and seventy-three, except such as 
is therein authorized or such as at the time 
this act takes effect is a lawful charge 
against a municipal or public corporation, or 
part thereof, hereby consolidated with 
the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of 
The City of New York. The copies of the 
City Record furnished to the city shall 
be distributed to the several departments 
and officers, and to such persons and in 
such manner as the board of City Rec- 
ord shall direct. The comptroller shall 
cause- a continuous series of the City 
Record to he bound, as completed quarterly, 
and to be deposited with his certificate there- 
on, in the office of the register of deeds of 
the county of New York, in the county clerk’s 
office of said county, and in the office of the 
city clerk, and copies of the contents of any 
part of the same, certified by such register, 
county clerk, or city clerk, shall be received 
in judicial proceedings as prima facie evi- 
dence of the truth of the contents thereof. — 
As amended by Laws of 1901, Chapter 715. 

Supervisor of City Record to arrange 

lists of registered voters. 

Sec. 1527. It shall be the duty of the super- 
visor of the City Record to cause the list of 
registered voters, made and delivered by the 
chairman of the boards of inspectors of elec- 
tion to the captains of police, and by them 
delivered to him, to be arranged by assembly 
districts, and by election districts of assem- 
bly districts, commencing with the first, and 


in such manner that the names of all regis- 
tered voters residing at any given number of 
any street shall appear together, and those 
of each street in each election district shall 
appear arranged by house numbers, in con- 
secutive order, each street separately. And 
as soon as the entire registry of voters shall 
be completed, and the copies thereof made 
and delivered, the said supervisor shall forth- 
with cause the same to be printed and pub- 
lished in the City Record, and in the form 
and manner herein prescribed; and such pub- 
lication shall be made within one hundred 
and eight hours after the close of each an- 
nual registration. The registry of each as- 
sembly district shall be printed separately 
as a supplement to the City Record, and each 
supplement containing the registry of one 
assembly district shall be sold separately to 
persons wishing to purchase the same at not 
less than five cents per copy. All money 
received therefor shall be paid into the city 
treasury to the credit of the general fund. 
It shall be the duty of the supervisor of the 
City Record to cause the annual record of 
the assessed valuation of real estate, made 
and delivered to him, by the board of taxes 
and assessments, to be printed in type not 
smaller than nonpareil, and published in the 
City Record; and such publication shall be 
made within ninety days after the delivery 
to him of the said annual record. The an- 
nual record of the assessed valuation of 
real estate of each section, district or ward, 
shall be printed separately as a supplement 
to the City Record. On each supplement 
shall be printed the number of the section, 
district or ward, therein contained, its bound- 
aries or an outline map, and the name of the 
borough in which it is situated. Each sup- 
plement containing the assessed valuation of 
real estate of one section, district or ward, 
shall be sold separately to persons wishing 
to purchase the same at a price for each 
supplement to be determined by the board 
of City Record; such number of copies shall 
be published as said board shall determine. 
All moneys received therefor shall be paid 
into the city treasury to the credit of the 
general fund. — As amended by Laws of 1903, 
Chapter 454. 

Printing and stationery to be snpplied 
by contract; City Record to print 
certain matters. 

Sec. 1528. All printing for said city and for 
the counties contained within its territorial 
limits, including the printing of the City 
Record, shall be executed and all stationery 
shall be supplied, under contracts, to be en- 
tered into by the said board of city record. 
All proposals for printing and stationery 
shall be based upon specifications to be filed 
in the comptroller’s office, which shall set 
forth with accuracy the number of every de- 
scription of printed blanks; also each descrip, 
tion of stationery or blank books in ordin- 
ary use in the board of aldermen and the 
respective departments, and likely to he re- 
quired during the year for which such con- 
tract is to be given, and the bids shall 
be given for such numbers of each 
printed description of blanks or of each 
article of stationery" • (including un- 
der the head of stationery, letter or 
writing paper, or envelopes, with printed 
headings or indorsements) as are specified, 
and for such additional number as may be 
required, giving the price for blanks of every 
description, and the price of all other print- 
ing “per thousand ems,” or for "rule and 
figure work;” separate contracts shall be 
made with the lowest bidder for any one 
descaiption of printing, or any article of 
stationery, involving an expense of more 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


155 


than five hundred dollars. Ten per centum 
of the amount becoming due, from time to 
time, shall be withheld by the comptroller 
until the completion of the contract; and in 
case the contractor shall fall to fulfill the 
same to the satisfaction of said board of 
city record, then said board may declare 
said contract to be annulled, and said board 
shall immediately give notice for other bids 
for such printing during the remainder of 
the term of contract. No judgment shall be 
recovered against The City of New York as 
constituted by this act, for printing or sta- 
tionery done or furnished after April thir- 
teenth, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, 
ostensibly for the city of New York as here- 
tofore known and bounded, unless done or 
'urnished under a contract where, under the 
provisions of chapter three hundred and 
thirty-five of the laws of eighteen hundred 
and seventy-three, or of the laws in force at 
the time this act takes effect or of this act, 
a contract was or is necessary, or under a 
valid contract, or unles3 upon evidence of a 
contract made as provided in this section. 
Separate contracts may be made at any time 
for engraving, lithographing, wood-cuts, 
maps, or other picture work, as the same 
may be required; but nothing herein con- 
tained shall be construed to require a sep- 
arate contract for each engraving, lithograph, 
or wood-cut, or map, unless the board of 
city record shall deem the same advisable 
for the interest of the city. No more than 
two thousand copies of any message of the 
mayor, or report of any head of a depart- 
ment, and no more than one thousand copies 
of any report of a committee of the board 
of aldermen shall be printed apart from the 
City Record. There shall be published in 
the City Record within the month of January 
and within the month of July in eaoh year 
a list of all the officials and employes em- 
ployed in any of the departments, bureaus 
or offices of the city government, and of the 
counties therein contained, who have been 
or have become such officials or employes 
during the preceding six months. Said list 
shall contain the name, residence by street 
cumbers, nature of position or service, date 
of entrance into the service or employment, 
date of cessation of such service or employ- 
ment, if such has occurred during said 
period, salary or wages, and a distinct state- 
ment of the increase or decrease thereof 
during said period of each of said officials or 
employes. All changes of such officials or 
employes, or the amount of their salaries, 
with a distinct statement of the increase or 
decrease thereof, shall be so published within 
one week after they are made. It shall be 
the duty of all heads of departments or bu- 
reaus, or offices not in a department, to fur- 
nish to the person appointed to supervise the 
publication of the City Record, everything 
required to be inserted therein. It shall be 
the duty of the said person appointed to su- 
pervise the publication of the City Record, on 
or before the first days of February and Au- 
gust respectively in each year, to certify to 
the comptroller that the several lists so re- 
quired to be furnished have been furnished 
to him by said heads of departments, bureaus, 
or offices, and the comptroller is hereby for- 
bidden to pay the salary of any such head of 
department, bureau or office who has not fur- 
nished such list until the receipt by said 
comptroller of such certificate. The said 
person shall have the power to make requisi- 
tion in writing upon the heads of depart- 
ments to furnish the information necessary 
to make up such list according to the rules 
prescribed by him and approved by the board 
of city record; and such information must 
be supplied by the department within ten days 


after such requisition. He shall have power 
to require such information in the same man- 
ner, every three months, and all other infor- 
mation in the control of said heads of depart- 
ments, necessary to perform his duties, under 
this section. He shall include in hiB list the 
number of laborers, designating the depart- 
ment in which they are employed, and, if 
practicable, the numbers employed in the 
prosecution of specific works, and the 
amounts paid to them. He shall also cause 
to be printed in each issue of said City Record 
a separate statement of the hours during 
which all public offices in the city are open 
for business, and at which each court regu- 
larly opens and adjourns, as well as of the 
places where such offices are kept and such 
courts are held. The detailed canvass of 
votes, at every election, shall be published in 
the City Record. A list of the registered 
plumbers shall be published in the City Rec- 
ord at least once in each year. The mayor 
may order the insertion of any official matter 
or report in the City Record. Nothing herein 
contained shall apply to the printing or sup- 
plies of stationery for The City of New York, 
as constituted by this act, where by the con- 
current vote of the mayor, counsel to the cor- 
poration and comptroller, it shall be decided 
to have such printing done or such stationery 
furnished without contract let after advertise- 
ment for bids or proposals, but in such cases 
such printing shall be done and such station- 
ery procured in the manner and on such terms 
and conditions as the said officers shall deem 
to be for the best interests of the city, 

TITLE 3. 

GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

Officers; not to be Interested In con- 
tracts. 

Sec. 1533, No member- of the board of al- 
dermen, head of department, chief of bu- 
reau, deputy thereof or clerk therein, or 
other officer of the corporation, shall be 
or become interested, directly or indirectly, 
as contracting party, partner, stockholder or 
otherwise, in or in the performance of any 
contract, work, or business, or the sale of any 
article, the expense, price, or consideration 
of which is payable from the city treasury, 
or by any assessment levied by any act or 
ordinance of the board of aldermen; or in 
the purchase or lease of any real estate or 
other property belonging to or taken by the 
corporation, or which shall be sold for taxes 
or assessments, or by virtue of legal process 
at the suit of the said corporation. If any per- 
son in this section mentioned shall, during 
the time for which he was elected or appoint- 
ed, knowingly acquire an Interest as above 
described in any contract or work with the 
city, or any department or officer thereof, un- 
less the same shall be devolved upon him by 
law, he shall, on conviction thereof, forfeit his 
office and be punished for a misdemeanor. 
All such contracts in which any such person 
is or becomes interested as above described 
shall, at the option of the comptroller, be 
forfeited and void. No person in this section 
named shall give, or promise to give, any 
portion of his compensation, or any money or 
valuable thing, to any officer of the city, or 
to any other person, in consideration of his 
having been or being nominated, appointed, 
elected or employed as such officer, agent, 
clerk or employe, under the penalty of for- 
feiting his office and being forever disquali- 
fied from being elected, appointed, or em- 
ployed in the service of the city, and shall, 
on conviction be punished for a misde- 
meanor. 


Id.; may be summarily examined. 

Sec. 1534. Any member of the board of 
aldermen, commissioner, head of department, 
chief of bureau, deputy thereof or clerk 
therein, or other officer of the corporation or 
person, may, if a justice shall so order, be 
summarily examined upon an order to be 
made on application based on an affidavit of 
the mayor or of the comptroller, or any five 
members of the board of aldermen or any 
commissioner of accounts, or of any five citi- 
zens who are taxpayers, requiring such exam- 
ination, and signed by any justice of the su- 
preme court in the first or second judicial 
departments directing such examination to 
be publicly made at the chambers of said 
court in either of said judicial departments, 
or at the office of said department, on a day 
and hour to be named, not less, how-ever, 
than forty-eight hours after personal serv- 
ice of said order. Such examination shall be 
confined to an inquiry into any alleged wrong- 
ful diversion or misapplication of any moneys 
or fund, or any violation of the provisions of 
law, or any want of mechanical qualifica- 
tions of any inspectorship of public work, or 
any neglect of duty in acting as such in- 
spector, or any delinquency charged in said 
affidavit touching the office or the discharge 
or neglect of duty of which it is alleged 
in the application for said order that such 
member of the board of aldermen, head of de- 
partment or other aforementioned officer or 
person, has knowledge or information. Such 
member of the board of aldermen, commis- 
sioner, head of department, clerk or other 
aforesaid officer or person shall answer such 
pertinent questions relative thereto, and pro- 
duce such books and papers in his custody 
or under his control as the justice shall di- 
rect, and the examination may be continued 
from time to time, as such justice may order, 
but the answer of the party charged shall not 
be used against him in any criminal proceed- 
ing; provided, however, that for all false 
answers on material points he shall be sub- 
ject to the pains and penalties of the crime 
of perjury. The proceedings may be con- 
tinued before any other justice in said judi- 
cial department, and othef witnesses, as well 
83 the parties making such application, may, 
In the discretion of said justice, be compelled 
to attend and be examined touching such al- 
leged delinquencies. Such justice may mul- 
ish any refusal to attend such examination 
or to answer any questions pursuant to his 
order, as for a contempt of court, and shall 
have as full power and authority to enforce 
obedience to the order or directions of him- 
self or any other Justice, as any justice of the 
supreme court may now have, or shall pos- 
sess, to enforce obedience or to punish con- 
tempt in any case or matter whatever, and 
shall impose costs upon those promoting 
such an examination, not exceeding two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars, if he thinks there was 
no probable cause for making the application 
hereinbefore provided for. the said costs to 
be paid to the officer or person ex- 
amined, and for which the said 
officer or person may have judgment and 
an execution. The examination hereinbefore 
provided for shall be reduced to writing, and 
be filed in the office of the county clerk of 
such county within the first or second judi- 
cial departments as the judge making the 
order for the examination shall direct at the 
time of making such order, and the examina- 
tion so reduced to writing and filed shall be 
at all reasonable times accessible to the pub- 
lic, and notice of the same shall be given to 
the department In which said officer is em- 
ployed. 


156 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Itrber shopi* may be open on Sunday. 

Sec. 1535. The provisions of an act to reg- 
ulate bartering on Sunday, being chapter 
eight hundred and twenty-three of the laws 
of eighteen hundred and ninety-five, permit- 
ting barber shops or other places where a 
barber is engaged in shaving, hair cutting or 
other work of a barber, to be kept open, and 
the work of a barber to be performed therein 
until one o'clock of the afternoon of the first 
day of the week in The City of New York, 
as heretofore known and bounded, shall be 
applicable to and be in full force and ef- 
fect in all of the territory of The City of New 
York, as constituted by this act. 
Territorial operation of contracts, 
grunts and franchises not extended. 

Sec. 1538. This act shall not extend the 
territorial operation of any rights, contracts 
or franchises heretofore granted or made by 
the corporation known as the mayor, alder- 
men and commonalty of the city of New 
York, or by any of the municipal and public 
corporations which by this act are united 
and consolidated therewith, including the 
counties of Kings and Richmond, and the 
same shall be restricted to the limits re- 
spectively to which they would have been 
confined if this act had not been passed; 
nor shall this act in any way validate or in- 
validate or in any manner affect such grants, 
but they shall have the same legal validity, 
force, effect and operation and no other or 
greater than if this act had not been passed. 

Price of gas in Richmond and Queens 
counties. 

Sec. 1539. The price of illuminating gas in 
the county of Richmond, and in the county of 
Queens, shall not be affected by this act. 

Platting of lands and dedication of 
streets and public places. 

Sec. 1540. No map of the subdivision of 
lands or the platting thereof into streets or 
avenues and blocks within the limits of The 
City of New York shall hereafter be regis- 
tered or become effectual and binding as a 
dedication of the streets, avenues or public 
places on such map or plat until such map or 
plat has been submitted by the owner to and 
approved by the botrd of estimate and appor- 
tionment, which in acting thereon shall ex- 
amine and determine whether the streets aDd 
avenues are of adequate and suitable widlh 
and laid out with due reference to connect- 
ing streets or avenues. Upon such approval 
the title of the owner or owners of the land 
to all streets, avenues and public places des- 
ignated on the map or plat, shall immedi- 
ately vest in fee in The City of New York 
in trust for the designated public uses. Such 
map shall be filed in the office of the presi- 
dent of the borough where the lands affected 
by said subdivisions are located, and a copy 
thereof with the approval of the said board 
Indorsed thereon shall be filed and recorded 
in the office of the registrar of deeds or 
county clerk of the county in which the land 
is situated and Indexed therein as deeds are 
now required by law to be indexed. The 
board of aldermen may from time to time 
pass appropriate ordinances not inconsistent 
with law and this act to earry the provisions 
of this section into effect and regulate pro- 
ceedings thereunder. 

Majority of hoards of departments; 
quorum; powers. 

Sec. 1541. A majority of the members of 
a board in any department of the city gov- 
ernment, and also of the board for the revis- 
ion of assessments, shall constitute a quorum 
to fully perform and discharge any act or 
luty authorized,- possessed by, or imposed 


upon any department or any board aforesaid, 
and w-lth the same legal effect as if every 
member of any such board aforesaid had 


been 

present. 

except as 

herein 

ather- 

wise 

specially 

provided. 

Each 

board 

may, 

except 

as herein 

otherwise 

pro- 

vided, 

choose. 

in its own 

pleasure, 

one 

of its 

members, 

who shall 

be its president. 


and one who shall be its treasurer, and may 
appoint a chief clerk or secretary. No ex- 
pense shall be incurred by any of the depart- 
ments, boards or officers thereof, unless an 
appropriation shall have been previously 
made covering Buch expense, nor any expense 
in excess of the sum appropriated in accord- 
ance with law. 

Expense* not to exceed appropriation. 

Sec. 1542. It shall be the duty of the heads 
of all departments and of all officers of said 
city, and of all boards and officers 
charged with the duty of expending or 
incurring obligations payable out of 
the moneys raised by tax in said city, 
or any of the counties contained with- 
in its territorial limits, so to regulate such 
expenditures for any purpose or object, that 
the same shall not in any one year exceed 
the amount appropriated by the board of es- 
timate and apportionment for such purpose 
or object; and no charge, claim or liability 
shall exist or arise against said city, or any 
of the counties contained within Us terri- 
torial limits, for any sum in excess of the 
amount appropriated for the several pur- 
poses. It shall be lawful, however, for the 
board of estimate and apportionment in its 
discretion, and upon the certificate of the 
district attorney of any such county that the 
public interests demand for the proper con- 
duct of 'a criminal action of exceptional dif- 
ficulty that an additional appropriation be 
made for that purpose, to make such appro- 
priation and to authorize the comptroller to 
issue special revenue bonds to provide the 
necessary means therefor. 

Head* of departments; control over 

subordinates; removal. 

Sec. 1543. The heads of all departments 
and all borough presidents (except as 
otherwise specially provided) shall have 
power to appoint and remove all chiefs 
of bureaus (except the chamberlain), as 
also all clerks, officers, employes and sub- 
ordinates in their respective departments, ex- 
cept as herein otherwise specially provided, 
without reference to the tenure of office of any 
existing appointee. But no regular clerk or 
head of a bureau, or person holding a posi- 
tion in the classified municipal civil service 
subject to competitive examination, shall be 
removed until he has been allowed an oppor- 
tunity of making an explanation; and in 
every case of a removal, the true grounds 
thereof shall be forthwith entered upon the 
records of the department or board or bor- 
ough president, and a copy filed with the mu- 
nicipal civil service. In case oT removal, a 
statement showing the reason therefor shall 
be filed in the department. The number of 
all officers, clerks, employes, laborers and sub- 
ordinates in every department shall be such 
as the heads of the respective departments 
and borough presidents shall designate and 
approve, not exceeding the number limited 
by any ordinance of the board of aider- 
men. The duties of all such officers, 
clerks, employes, laborers and sub- 
ordinates shall be such as the 
heads of the respective departments and bor- 
ough presidents shall designate and approve, 
subject to the provisions of law and to the or- 
dinances of the board of aldermen. The sala- 
ries or wages of all such officers, clerks, em- 


ployes, laborers and subordinates in every de- 
partment shall be such as shall be fixed by 
the board of aldermen upon the recommenda- 
tion of the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment In the manner provided in this act. Any 
head of department or borough president, 
may, with the consent of the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment, consolidate any two 
or more bureaus established by law, and may 
change the duties of any bureau; and it shall 
be the duty of the head of the finance depart- 
ment to bring together all officers and bureaus 
authorized to receive mo»ey for taxes, assess- 
ments or arrears, in such manner that 
the payment of the same can be made, 
as nearly as practicable, at one 
time and place, and in one office. 
Every head of department or borough presi- 
dent, and every officer of any of the counties 
contained within the territorial limits of The 
City of New York, is empowered to make rat- 
able deductions from the salaries and wages 
of the employes and subordinates of his de- 
partment or office on account of absences 
from duty without leave; provided, however, 
that nothing contained in this section shall 
affect departments or officers as to which 
other provision is made by this act for de- 
ductions for absences or disciplinary fines and 
penalties. Wherever in any department or 
institution an office, position or employment 
i3 abolished, or made unnecessary through 
the operation of this act, or in any other 
manner, or whenever the number of offices, 
positions or employments of a certain charac- 
ter is reduced, the person or persons legally 
holding the office or filling the position or em- 
ployment thus abolished or made necessary 
shall be deemed to be suspended without pay, 
and shall be entitled to reinstatement in the 
same office, position or employment, or in 
any corresponding or similar office, position 
of employment, if within one year thereafter 
there is need for his or their services. When- 
ever such offices, positions or employments 
are abolished or made unnecessary, it shall be 
the duty of the heod of the department or in- 
stitution to furnish the names of the person 
or persons affected to the municipal civil serv- 
ice commission, with a statement in the case 
of each of the date of his original appoint- 
ment in the service. It shall be the duty 
of the municipal civil service commission 
forthwith to place the names of said per- 
sons upon a list of suspended employes 
for the office, or position or for the class of 
work in which they have been employed, or 
for any corresponding or similar office posi- 
tion or class of work, and to certify the said 
persons for reinstatement, in the order of 
their original appointment, before making 
certifications from any other list. The fail- 
ure of any person on any such list for rein- 
statement to accept, after reasonable notice, 
an office or position in the same borough 
and at the same salary or wages as the posi- 
tion formerly held by him shall be held to be 
a relinquishment of his right to reinstate- 
ment as herein stated. 

Id.; to reader reports; publication. 

Sec. 1544. The said departments, borough 
presidents and all commissioners appointed 
by the mayor, pursuant to the provisions of 
this act, and not constituting heads of de- 
partments, shall once in three months, and 
at such other times as the mayor may direct 
make to him, in such form and under such 
rules as he may prescribe, reports of the 
operations and action of the same and each 
of them, which reports shall be published 
in the City Record. The said departments, 
borough presidents and commissioners shall 


THE CHARTER OP THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


157 


always, when required hy the mayor, furnish 
to him such information as he may demand, 
within such reasonable time as he may direct. 

Id.! to furnish copies of papers on (lc- 

ni a n d . 

Sec. 1545. The heads of all departments, ex- 
cept the police arid law departments, and the 
chiefs of each and every bureau of said de- 
partments, or any of them, except the police 
and law departments and all borough presi- 
dents, shall, with reasonable promptness, 
furnish to any taxpayer desiring the same, a 
true and certified copy of any book, account 
or paper kept by such department, bureau or 
officer, or such part thereof as may be de- 
manded, upon payment in advance of five 
cents for every hundred words thereof by the 
person demanding the same. All books, ac- 
counts and papers in any department or bu- 
reau thereof, except the police and law de- 
partments, shall at all times be open to the 
inspection of any taxpayer, subject to any 
reasonable rules and regulations in regard to 
the time and manner of such inspection as 
such department, bureau or officer may make 
in regard to the same, in order to secure the 
safety of such books, accounts and papers, 
and the proper use of them by the depart- 
ment, bureau or officer; in case such inspec- 
tion shall be refused, such taxpayer, on his 
sworn petition, describing the particular 
book, account or paper that he desires to in- 
spect, may, upon notice of not less than one 
day to such department, bureau or officer, ap- 
ply to any justice of the supreme court for an 
order that he be allowed to make such in- 
spection as such justice shall by his order 
authorize, and such order shall specify the 
time and manner of such inspection. 

Records to be kept and abstracts pub- 
lished. 

Sec. 1546. In every department, office of a 
borough president or board there shall be 
kept a record of all its transactions, which 
shall be accessible to the public, and once a 
week a brief abstract, omitting formal 
language shall be made of all trans- 
actions, and of all contracts awarded and en- 
tered into for work and material of every de- 
scription, which -abstracts shall contain the 
name or names and residences by street and 
number, of the party or parties to the con- 
tract, and of their sureties, if any. A copy 
of such abstract shall be promptly trans- 
mitted to the person designated to prepare 
the City Record, and shall be published there- 
in. Notice of all appointments and removals 
from office, and all changes of salaries, shall 
in like manner, within one week after they 
are made, be transmitted to and published in 
the City Record. 

Certificates of appointments. 

Sec. 1547. Every person who shall be ap- 
pointed or elected to any office under the 
said city shall receive a certificate of appoint- 
ment, designating the term for which such 
person has been appointed or elected. 

Official oatb. 

Sec. 1548. Every person elected or appointed 
to any office under the city government shall, 
within five days after notice of such election 
or appointment, take and subscribe, before 
the mayor or any judge of a court of record, 
an oath or affirmation faithfully to perform 
the duties of his office; which oath or affirma- 
tion shall be filed in the office of the city 
clerk. 

Officer not to hold any other civil of- 
fice. 

Sec. 1549. Any person holding office, 
whether by election or appointment, who 


shall, during his term of office, accept, hold 
or retain any other civil office of honor, trust, 
or emolument under the government of the 
United States (except commissioners for the 
taking of bail, or register of any court), or of 
the state (except the office of notary public 
or commissioner of deeds, or officer of the 
national guard), or who shall hold or accept 
any other office connected with the govern- 
ment of The City of New York, or who shall 
accept a seat in the legislature, shall be 
deemed thereby to have vacated any office 
held by him under the city government. No 
person shall hold two city or county offices, 
except as expressly provided in this act; nor 
shall any' officer under the city government 
hold or retain an office under the county gov- 
ernment, except the office of supervisor, or 
when he holds such office ex officio, by virtue 
of an act of the legislature; and in such case 
shall draw' no salary for such ex officio office. 

Officers! when may receive and retain 

fees. 

Sec. 1550. No officer of the city government, 
except the city marshals, shall have or re- 
ceive to his own use any fees, perquisites or 
commissions or any percentage; but every 
such officer shall be paid by a fixed salary, 
and all fees, percentages and commissions re- 
ceived by any such officer shall be the property 
of the city. And every officer who shall re- 
ceive any fees, perquisites, commissions, per- 
centages, or other money which should be 
paid over to the city shall, before he shall be 
entitled to receive any salary, make under 
oath a detailed return to the comptroller 
showing the amount of all such fees, com- 
missions, percentages, perquisites and moneys 
received by him since the last preceding re- 
port, the person from whom received, and the 
reason for its payment, and shall produce the 
receipt of the chamberlain, showing the pay- 
ment to him, by said officer, of the aggregate 
amount thereof. All sums received as above, 
or for licenses or permits, except as in thfs 
act otherwise expressly provided, shall be 
paid over weekly, without deduction by the 
officers or department receiving them, to the 
chamberlain, and a detailed return under oath 
shall at any time be made in such form as the 
comptroller shall prescribe, stating when and 
from whom, and for what use such moneys 
were received. No city officer who is paid a 
salary for his services from the city treasury 
shall receive to or for his own use any fees, 
costs, allowances, perquisites of office, commis- 
sions, percentages or moneys paid to him in 
his official capacity; but all fees, costs, allow- 
ances, perquisites, commissions, percentages 
and moneys so paid or received by any such 
officer or person, shall be the property of the 
city and shall be paid by him into the city 
treasury; and every such officer or person 
who shall receive any fees, perquisites, com- 
missions, percentages, or other moneys Which 
belong to the city and should be so paid into 
the treasury, shall, before he shall be entitled 
to receive or to be paid his salary, make under 
oath a detailed statement and return to the 
comptroller in such form as he may pre- 
scribe, showing the amount of all such mon- 
eys received by him since the last preceding 
statement and returns, and shall produce a 
receipt showing the payment of such sum into 
the treasury. The comptroller may require 
any such person or officer to make such state- 
ment and return to him, if it be not made 
as herein provided, and may examine any 
such officer or person under oath touching 
the amount of any fees, costs, allowances, 
perquisites, commissions, percentages or 
moneys paid to or received by him in his of- 
ficial capacity, 


Id.i defranding. 

Sec. 1551. Any officer of the city govern- 
ment, or person employed in its service, who 
shall wilfully violate or evade any of the 
provisions of law, or commit any fraud upon 
the city, or convert any of the public prop- 
erty to his own use, or knowingly permit any 
other person so to convert it, or by gross or 
culpable neglect of duty allow the same to be 
lost to the city, shall be deemed guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and, in addition to the penal- 
ties imposed by law, and on conviction, shall 
forfeit His office, and be excluded forever 
after from receiving or holding any office 
under the city govereiment; and any person 
j who shall wilfully swear falsely in any oath 
or affirmation required by this chapter shall 
be guilty of perjury. 

Money not to be paid to sectarian 
schools; public property; how dis- 
posed of. 

Sec. 3552. No money belonging to the city 
raised by taxation upon the property of the 
citizens thereof, shall be appropriated in aid 
of any religious or denominational school, 
neither shall any property, real or personal 
belonging to said city, be disposed of to any 
such school, except upon the sale thereof 
St public auction, after the same has been 
duly advertised, at which sale such school 
shall be the highest bidder, and upon pay- 
ment of the sum so bid into the city treas- 
ury; neither shall any property belonging to 
the city be leased to any school under the 
control of any religious or denominational 
institution, except upon such terms as the 
city property may be leased to private par- 
ties after the same has been duly advertised. 

Property to be sold at auction. 

Sec. 1553. All property 60 ld other than 
land under water shall be sold at auction, 
after previous public notice, under the su- 
perintendence of the appropriate hea'd of de- 
partment. The proceeds of all sales made 
under and by virtue of this act shall, except 
as herein otherwise specially provided, be by 
the officer receiving the same immediately 
deposited with the chamberlain; and the ac- 
count of sales, verified by the officer making 
the 6ales, shall be immediately filed in the 
office of the comptroller. 

Patented articles; how snpplied. 

Sec. 1554. Except for repairs no patented 
pavement shall be laid and no patented ar- 
ticle shall be advertised for, contracted for 
or purchased, except under such circum- 
stances that there can be a fair and rea- 
sonable opportunity for competition, the 
conditions to secure which shall be pre- 
scribed by the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment. 

Special provision ns to papers formerly 
filed In offices of town clerks. 

Sec. 1555. Except as otherwise provided by 
this act all papers now required by law to 
be filed and recorded in the town clerk’s 
office in any of the towns by this act united 
and consolidated into The City of New York, 
shall after this act takes effect, be filed and 
recorded in the office of the clerk of the 
county in which such town is situated, and 
all such papers filed and recorded in any 
town clerk’s office of such towns, and the 
records thereof shall, immediately after this 
act takes effect, be deposited in such county 
clerk’s office by the town clerks of such 
towns, and shall remain of record therein. 

Code of ordinances; when to be prinia 
facie evidence. 

Sec. 1556. A code or other volume contain- 
ing either the ordinances or by-laws of the 


158 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


city published by authority of the board of 
aldermen shall be prima facie evidence In 
all courts of justice of the authenticity of 
such ordinances or by-laws. 

Responsible gnnranty company may 

act ns surety. 

Sec. 1557. Wherever this act provides for 
the giving of an official bond with surety or 
sureties, such surety or sureties may con- 
sist of a responsible guaranty company, pro- 
vided the same shall be satisfactory to, and 
be approved by, the officer or officers, or 
body whose duty it is to approve such bond 
or sureties. 

Tennre of office. 

Sec. 1558. All officers elected or appointed 
under this act shall, unless otherwise ex- 
pressly provided and unless sooner removed, 
hold their respective offices until their suc- 
cessors are respectively elected or appointed 
and have qualified. 

Publication to be mn<le In City Record, 

miles* otherwise provided. 

Sec. 1559. All publications required by this 
act shall, unless otherwise provided, be pub- 
lished in the City Record, and one publica- 
tion therein shall be sufficient, unless it Is 
herein otherwise prescribed. 

Pensioners not to hold offices, etc. 

Sec 1560. No person now receiving or who 
may hereafter receive any pension from The 
City of New York or any of the departments 
thereof, or out of any fund under said city 
or any of its departments, shall hold any 
office, employment or position under The City 
of New York or any of the counties Included 
within said city. Any officer, subordinate, 
or employe of said city or any of its depart- 
ments or any of the counties included with- 
in said city now in receipt of any such pen- 
sion shall forthwith forfeit such office, po- 
sition or employment. 

Officers and employes not to perform 

work ontside public employment. 

Sec. 1561. No officer or employe of The 
City of New York or of any of the counties 
comprised within its territorial limits, shall 
detail or cau-se any officer, employe or subor- 
dinate of the city or of any of said counties 
to do or perform any service or work out- 
side of his public office, work or employ- 
ment; and any violation of this section shall 
constitute a misdemeanor punishable by 
a fine of not more than five hundred dol- 
lars, or by imprisonment for not more than 
one year. 

Waters and shores to be kept pure and 

clean. 

Sec. 1562. No swill, garbage, dead animals, 
decayed or other vegetables or fruits, bed- 
ding or refuse or rubbish i f any kind ot 
any light or offensive soil or material that 
will not settle in the water when dumped 
shall be dumped or deposited in the waters 
cf the port of New York or in the ocean, 
sea, rivers or waters adjoining The City ot 
New York, or in the water* of New York 
harbor, or New York bay, or in the Hudson 
river, the East river, Long Island eound, 
and waters adjacent thereto west of the 
middle ground shoal, or in the navigable 
voters lying between said sound and the 
East river, nor in the waters bounding or 
adjoining the port or harbor of New York, 
or the upper bay; nor shall any article or 
thing that, is liable to convey disease or is 
putrid, unwholesome, noxious or dangerous 
tc the public health, or calculated to defile 
or to render unclean the coast or shores of 
The City of New York, be cast, thrown. 


placed, deposited or suffered or permitted to 
be placed or deposited in said waters, or 
placed or suffered to be placed where said 
water would ordinarily or naturally rise 
upon, take or receive them, excepting, how- 
ever, the ordinary discharge of sewers con- 
structed under the authority of the laws of 
the state within which they are located. This 
section shall not apply to the erection or con- 
struction of any pier, dock, bulkhead or the 
making, by filling in, in a proper manner, 
of the land, in case where the erection of such 
piers, docks, or bulkheads or making, by fill- 
ing in, of land is now authorized by the laws 
of the state; nor to works undertaken by the 
government of the United States in the port 
and harbor of The City of New York, or au- 
thorized by the laws of the state of New 
York. Any pilot, harbor master or port war- 
den of the port of New York, the police of 
The City of New York, or any city marshal 
or constable within The City of New York, 
shall have power to arrest all persons and 
deliver Into custody and person or persons 
taken in the act of violating any of the pro- 
visions of this section. ' 

Illegal to assist In towing or sailing 

vessels laden with garbage, etc. 

Sec. 1563. It shall not be lawful for any 
person or persons to sail, navigate, or move, 
or to aid, direct, or assist in sailing, navi- 
gating or moving, any boat or vessel engaged 
in the transportation of any dead animal, car- 
rion, offal, or any putrid, offensive refuse, 
decaying or decayed vegetable or animal mat- 
ter, or any garbage or sweepings, taken from 
the streets of any city, upon the waters re- 
ferred to in the last section for the purpose 
of being dumped or deposited in said waters; 
and it shall not be lawful for any steam ves- 
sel to tow or carry any of the articles men- 
tioned in this or the last section. 

Penalties for violation of two last sec- 
tions. 

Sec. 1564. Any person offending against 
the provisions of the two preceding sections 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and liable to Imprisonment for a term of not 
less than six months or to a fine of not less 
than five hundred dollars, in the discretion 
of the court, for each and every offense, and 
may be arrested by the authorities of the 
city or of either of the counties of New York 
Kings, Queens, Westchester or Richmond. 
The courts in said counties respectively shall 
have power and jurisdiction to try said of- 
fenders, whether the offense be committed 
within their respective counties or not. 
Out of any moneys received for fines, such 
sum or sums shall be allowed and paid for the 
expenses and disbursements attending the ar- 
rest, as the court or magistrate may deem 
reasonable and proper. The owner or owners 
or charterer of any vessel used in violation 
of the preceding sections shall be liable to 
The City of New York in a penalty of one 
thousand dollars for each offense, and an ac- 
tion may be brought for the recovery thereof 
in the name of The City of New York. 

Public armories; armory bonrdi presi- 
dent of tbe board of aldermen to be a 

member of; its dnties. 

Sec. 1565. All powers and duties relating 
to the construction, repairs and maintenance 
of and to public armories in The City of 
New York, and to the purchase of supplies 
therefor, so far as the same have heretofore 
been conferred upon the commissioner of pub- 
lic buildings, lighting and supplies by chap- 
ter two hundred and twelve of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, known as 
“the military code,” are hereby devolved upon 
the armory board having jurisdiction within 


The City of New York, as in said military 
code provided. The potvers and duties here- 
tofore exercised by the commissioner of 
public buildings, lighting and supplies as a 
member of said armory board are hereby de- 
volved upon the president of the board of al- 
dermen, who shall be a member of said ar- 
mory board. 

TITLE 4. 

CORONERS. 

Coroners to be elected in the boronglu. 

Sec. 1570. Four coroners shall hereafter be 
elected in the borough of Manhattan, two in 
the borough of The Bronx, two in the bor- 
ough of Brooklyn, two in the borough of 
Queens and one in the borough of Richmond. 
They shall be elected in the same manner and 
at the same general elections as are the sher- 
iffs in the several counties in w'hich such 
boroughs are situated, shall hold their re- 
spective offices for the term of four years 
and shall be removable in the same manner 
as sheriffs. The coroners in the borough of 
Manhattan shall hereafter keep open on every 
day in the year, including Sundays and legal 
holidays, the coroner’s office in such borough, 
with a clerk in constant attendance at ail 
times of the day and night. 

Id.; officers and subordinates provided 
for; salaries and compensation. 

Sec. 1571. The coroner in each borough 
shall have an office in said borough and shall 
appoint a clerk who shall receive an annual 
salary to be fixed by the board of estimate 
and apportionment and the board of aider- 
men, and such and so many assistant clerks 
as shall be provided for in the annual budget. 
They shall also appoint a stenographer in 
each borough whose duty it shall be to take 
accurate and full stenographic minutes and 
transcribe the same, of all proceedings and 
testimony taken before a jury in any cor- 
oner's court, held by any one of said coro- 
ners. Each of said coroners shall possess all 
the powers and perform all the duties vested 
in or imposed upon coroners by any existing 
laws relating to coroners in The City of New 
York as heretofore known and bounded, or 
by any law of this state. The salaries or 
other compensation of said coroners shall be 
fixed by the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment and the board of aldermen. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE COUN- 
TIES AND REPEAL PROVISIONS. 

Title 1. Provisions relating to the counties. 
Title 2. Repeal provisions. 

TITLE 1. 

PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE COUN- 
TIES. 

Wards in the borough of Brooklyn; 
how designated. 

Sec. 1577. The wards of the former city of 
Brooklyn are hereby continued, with their 
present boundaries and numbers, and shall be 
known and designated as wards of the bor- 
ough of Brooklyn. 

Wards in boroughs of Manhattan nnd 
The Bronx; how designated. 

Sec. 1578. The wards of the corporation 
heretofore known as the mayor, aldermen 
and commonalty of the city of New' York 
are hereby continued, with their present 
boundaries and numbers, and shall be know* 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


159 


and designated as wards of the borough of 
Manhattan and The Bronx, respectively. 

Towns an«l villages in Richmond coun- 
ty abolished. 

Sec. 1579. The five towns and all the in- 
corporated villages within the county of 
Richmond are hereby abolished. 

Wards in the borough of Richmond. 

Sec. 15S0. The territory included jvithin the 
towns of Castleton, Middletown, Northfield, 
Southfield and Westfield, in the county of 
Richmond, shall, in the order named, be 
known and designated as wards one, two, 
three, four and five, respectively, of the bor- 
ough of Richmond. 

Towns in Queens county abolished! 
wards in borough of Qneens. 

Sec. 1581. The towns of Newtown, Flush- 
ing and Jamaica, and all the incorporated 
villages in that part of the county of Queens 
included within The City of New York, as 
constituted by this act, are hereby abolished. 
The territory heretofore known as Long Isl- 
and City shall be known as ward one of the 
borough of Queens; the town of Newtown as 
ward two of said borough; the town of Flush- 
ing as ward three; the town of Jamaica as 
ward four; and that part of the town of 
Hempstead included within The City of New 
York, as constituted by this act, shall be 
known as ward five of the said borough of 
Queens. But the supervisors of said towns 
who are in office when this act takes effect 
shall serve out their respective terms of of- 
fice as supervisors of the wards in which they 
respectively reside, and shall continue to be 
members of the board of supervisors of the 
county of Queens. 

Board of Aldermen; power to change 
boundaries. 

Sec. 1582. The board of aldermen may from 
time to time by ordinance change the bound- 
aries of wards and create other wards as the 
public good and convenience may require. 

Salaries of county officers In New 
York, Richmond, Qneens and Kings 
counties; how met. 

Sec. 1583. The salaries of all county offleers 
in the counties of New York, Kings, Queens 
and Richmond shall unless otherwise provided 
by lawbe fixed by the board of aldermen on the 
recommendation of the board of estimate and 
apportionment, and all county charges and 
expenses and salaries of county offleers in 
said counties and each of them sha'.l be audit- 
ed and paid by the department of finance out 
of the fund or appropriation applicable there- 
to, and the audit of said department in respect 
to such charges and expenses shall extend to 
the reasonableness thereof and shall be, in 
ail respects, as full and complete as the audit 
of city charges and expenses provided for by 
section one hundred and forty-nine of this 
act; but nothing in this section contained 
shall be construed as in any way changing 
or modifying the provision contained in sec- 
tion nine hundred and two of this act, to the 
effect that the sums necessary to defray the 
salaries of county offleers and to pay county 
charges and expenses in said counties shall 
be levied and assessed upon the property of 
said four counties, respectively, so that each 
shall ultimately bear and pay all its own 
county charges, nor to affect the county of 
Queens until after the thirty-first day of De- 
cember, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine. 

Election of county officers required by 
the constitution not nffected. 

Sec. 1584. Nothing in this act contained 
shall be deemed to interfere with or here- 
after prevent the election, under and pursu- 


ant to laws relating thereto, of all county of- 
ficers required by the constitution of the 
state, to be elected in either of the counties, 
in whole or in part, included within The City 
of New York, as constituted by this act. 

Public administrator of the County of 

New York. 

Sec. 1585. Upon the taking effect of this 
act, the official designation of the public ad- 
ministrator in The City of New York, as here- 
tofore known and bounded, s't.al' be the pub- 
lic administrator of the county of New York, 
and such officer shall continue a county officer 
with the powers, duties and obligations now 
prescribed by law, and the present provisions 
of law and the present ordinances relating 
to said public administrator shall not be af- 
fected by anything herein contained. 

Devolution of powers vested in hoards 

of supervisors in New York, Kings, 

Queens and Richmond counties. 

Sec. 1586. Any and all of the powers and 
duties of the several boards of supervisors 
heretofore existing in any of the counties 
within the territory of The City of New York 
not transferred or devolved upon administra- 
tive departments, boards, commissions, offi- 
cers or other functionaries, are hereby vested 
in the board of aldermen of The City of New 
York. 

The office of county treasurer in the 

counties of Kings. Qneens and Rich- 
mond abolished. 

Sec. 1587. The office of the county treas- 
urer of the county of Richmond is hereby 
abolished, and after the thirty-first day of 
December, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, 
the office of the county treasurer of the 
county of Queens shall cease to exist, and 
after the thirty-firbt day of December, nine- 
teen hundred and one, the office of county 
treasurer of the county of Kings shall cease 
•to exist, and all the powers, duties and obli- 
gations of said county treasurers are hereby 
devolved upon the chamberlain of The City of 
New York as constituted by this act. The cler- 
ical force and employes of the county treas- 
urer of Kings county shall be assigned by the 
comptroller of The City of New York on Jan- 
uary first, nineteen hundred and two, to cor- 
responding positions and duties in the de- 
partment of finance as nearly as may be 
without prejudice or advantage; provided, 
however, that nothing herein contained shall 
be construed to repeal, limit, modify or 
abridge any provisions of law or civil service 
regulations relative to the removal of subor- 
dinates by public officers or heads of depart- 
ments, nor to affect the right of abolishing 
unnecessary positions. — As amended by Laws 
of 1903, Chapter 395. 

Disposition of real and personal prop- 
erty owned by or held In trust for 

the town of Hempstead. 

Sec. 1590. All the real property owned by the 
town of Hempstead and situated in that part 
of said town included within The City of New 
York, as constituted by this act, is hereby 
vested in the said city of New York and di- 
vested out of the town of Hempstead, and ail 
of the real property owned by the town of 
Hempstead and situated elsewhere In said 
town is hereby vested in the town of Hemp- 
stead and divested out of the said city of 
New York. All of the property owned by the 
town of Hempstead other than real property, 
including money, investments, securities on 
investments an'd money held in trust 
for the benefit of said town, direct- 
ly or indirectly, shall be divided be- 
tween the said town and The City 
of New York, as constituted by this act, and 
the proportion of the same to which each 


shall, in equity and good conscience, be 
entitled to receive upon such division, shall 
be ascertained and determined by agreement 
by and between the town board of the town 
of Hempstead, upon the one side, and the 
mayor and the municipal assembly of the 
said city of New Ycrk, upon the other side, 
and in case of their inability to agree upon 
such division within six months after this 
act shall take effect, the supreme court in 
the third judicial district is hereby empow- 
ered to divide the same botween them and 
to ascertain and award to each its equitable 
proportion thereof, and to enforce its de- 
termination thereon, and either of the said 
municipalities may institute and prosecute, 
in its own name, an action in equity in said 
court for that purpose after the expiration 
of six months and before the expiration of 
one year after this act takes effect. 

Proportion of funds and moneys re- 
ceived by the elty which should be 
returned to Queens county, or paid 
to the com ptroller of the state; how 
determined. 

Sec. 1591. The mayor and municipal as- 
sembly of The City of New York, as consti- 
tuted by this act, and the board of super- 
visors of the county of Queens, are also au- 
thorized and empowered to determine what 
proportion of the funds and moneys that may 
be received by The City of New York, pur- 
suant to the provisions of this act, from any 
officer of any of the municipal and public 
corporations or parts of municipal and pub- 
lic corporations within the county of Queens, 
and hereby consolidated with the corpora- 
tion heretofore known as the mayor, aider- 
men and commonalty of the city of New 
York, should be refunded or repaid to the 
county of Queens, as representing taxes 
levied and assessed for the payment of 
county charges and expenses ' within said 
county, and in like manner what proportion 
of said moneys that may be so received, 
were levied for state taxes payable by said 
county of Queens for the year eighteen hun- 
dred and ninety-eight, .and should therefore 
be turned over to the comptroller of the 
state in payment and discharge of said 
county’s obligation to the state in that re- 
gard for the year eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight. If the mayor and the munici- 
pal assembly, and the said board of super- 
visors of the county of Queens be unable 
within three months after this act takes 
effect to agree as to any or either of said 
matters, then the supreme court of the third 
judicial district shall have power to deter- 
mine in each case where a disagreement 
occurs upon said matters, and each of them, 
and to enforce such determination and de- 
cision in a suit in equity, to be brought in 
the name of the supervisors of said county 
of Queens, or of the comptroller of the state, 
as the case may be, not less than six months 
nor more than one year after this act takes 
effect. 

Comptroller of state to transmit to the 
city a statement, of tlie state tax to 
be paid by New York, Kings, Qneens 
and Richmond comities; bow levied 
and collected. 

Sec. 1595. It shall be the duty of the comp- 
troller of the state annually to transmit to 
the comptroller of The City of New York, 
as hereby constituted, for levy and collec- 
tion by said city, a statement of the amount 
of tax for state pu-poses to be paid by the 
counties of New York, Kings, Queens and 
Richmond, respectively. The amount, of 
which a statement is thus transmitted by the 
comptroller of the state or the comptroller 
of said city, shall be levied upon and col- 


160 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Iected from the entire property within the 
territorial limits of said city In like manner 
as other expenses of said city. 

TITLE 2. 

REPEAL PROVISIONS— EFFECT OF 
THIS ACT. 

Inconsistent provisions of consolida- 
tion act repealed. 

Sec. 1608. The act of the legislature of the 
state of New York, passed July first, eigh- 
teen hundred and eighty-two, known as the 
New York city consolidation act of eighteen 
hundred and eighty-two, and acts amendatory 
therof, and supplemental thereto, and other 
acts of the legislature of the state of New 
York now in force relating to or affecting 
the local government of The City of New 
York, as heretofore constituted, are hereby 
repealed so far as any provisions thereof are 
inconsistent with the provisions of this act, or 
so far as the subject matter thereof is revised 
or included in this act, and no further. So far 
as the provisions of this act are the same 
in terms or in substance and effect as the 
provisions of the said consolidation act, or 
of other acts of the legislature now in force 
relating to or affecting the municipal and 
public corporations, or any of them herein 
united and consolidated, this act is intended 
to be not a new enactment, but a continua- 
tion of the said consolidation act of eighteen 
hundred and eighty-two, and said other acts, 
and is intended to apply the provisions there- 
of as herein modified to The City of New 
York as herein constituted, and this act 
shall accordingly be so construed and ap- 
plied. 

Omission ol prevlons nets not to l»e 

construed as repealed. 

Sec. 1609. The mere omission from this act 
of any previaus acts or of any of the pro- 
visions thereof, including said consolidation 
act of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, re- 
lating to or affecting the municipal and pub- 
lic corporations or any of them which are 
herein united and consolidated, shall not be 
held to be a repeal thereof. 

Acts applicable to The City of New 

York. 

Sec. 1610. All the provisions of all acts of 
the legislature of the state of New York, 
including said consolidation act of eighteen 
hundred and eighty-two, of a general and 
permanent character, relating to the corpor- 
ation heretofore known as the mayor, aider- 
men and commonalty of The City of New 
York, in force at the time this act goes 
into effect, which are consistent with this act 
and its purposes, and which are not revised 
and included in or the subject matter there- 
of covered by this act, are hereby extended 
to The City of New York as herein constitut- 
ed, eo iar as they are consistent with this 
act, and are not in their nature locally in- 
applicable to other portions of the city than 
the corporation heretofore known *s tbs 
mayer, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York. And the provisions of law 
thus extended to The City of New York as 
herein constituted shall apply to said city 
throughout its whole extent, anything to the 
contrary notwithstanding contained in the 
charter of any of the municipal or public 
corporations or laws relating thereto, which 
are by this act united and consolidated with 
the corporation heretofore known as the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city 
of New York. 

To take effect Janunry 1, 1898. 

Sec. 1611. For the purpooe of determining 
the effect of this act upon other acts and the 


effect of other acts upon this act, this act 
shall, except as In this section is otherwise 
provided, be deemed to have been enacted on 
the first day of January, in the year eighteen 
hundred and ninety-eight. This act shall take 
effect on the first day of January, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-eight; provided, however, 
that where by the terms of this act an elec- 
tion is provided or required to be held or 
other act done or forbidden prior to Janu- 
ary first, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
then as to such election and such acts, this 
act shall take effect from and after its pass- 
age, and shall be in force immediately, any- 
thing in this chapter or act to the contrary 
notwithstanding. 

Invalidity of one section not to invali- 
date any other section. 

Sec. 1612. The invalidity of any section or 
provision of this act shall not invalidate any 
otl&r section or provision thereof. 

Interregnums liow prevented. 

Sec. 1613. To guard against the inconveni- 
ence and effects that might arise from the 
changes in local government effected by this 
act, and to prevent an interregnum, and oth- 
erwise to carry out the purposes and provis- 
ions of this act, it is hereby enacted that 
until this act and its several provisions shall 
take effect all existing acts shall remain in 
force and all officers in office when this act 
takes effect shall remain in office until their 
successors are respectively elected and ap- 
pointed and shall have qualified under the 
provisions of this act. And for the purposes 
aforesaid as well as for any other purpose 
necessary or proper to effectuate the scheme 
and objects of this act, and to carry into ef- 
fect the powers granted by this act to The 
City of New York, the municipal assembly 
shall have power by ordinances to make 
fro.m time to time all such provisions con- 
cerning the local rule and government of 
The City of New York as herein constituted, 
and each and all of its departments as it may 
find necessary or deem needful not inconsist- 
ent with the constitution and laws of the 
state and the express provisions of this act. 

Existing rights anti remedies pre- 
served. 

Sec. 1614. No right or remedy of any char- 
acter shall be lost or impaired or affected by 
reason of this act. This act shall 
not affect or impair any act done or right 
accruing, accrued or acquired, or penalty, 
forfeiture or punishment incurred prior to 
the time when this act takes effect or by vir- 
tue of any laws repealed or modified by this 
act, hut the same may be asserted, enforced, 
prosecuted or inflicted as fully and to the 
same extent as if this act had not been 
passed or said laws had not been repealed 
or modified; and all actions, suits, proceed- 
ings or prosecutions under the New York 
city consolidation act of eighteen hundred 
and eighty-two, or amendments thereof, or 
other laws relating to The City of New York 
and herein repealed or modified, or under 
any charter or law relating to any of the 
municipal and public corporations which are 
herein united and consolidated, and pending 
when this act takes effect, including the 
counties of Kings and Richmond, may be 
prosecuted and defended to final effect in 
the same manner as they might under the 
laws then existing, unless herein otherwise 
specially provided; and such actions, suits, 
proceedings or prosecutions may be continued 
without change of name or title, or on mo- 
tion The City of New York may be sub- 
stituted as plaintiff or defendant, as the 
case may be, in the place of the existing 
party to whose rights and obligations the 


said City of New York has by force of this 
act succeeded. The corporation counsel 
shall assume the charge, direction and con- 
trol of all such actions, suits and proceed- 
ings in behalf of The City of New York. Ail 
future suits by or against The City of New 
York as herein constituted or against any of 
the municipal and public corporations in this 
act united and consolidated shall be in the 
corporate name of "The City of New York.” 

Powers of corporations consolidates 

devolved npon The City of New York. 

Sec. 1615. Upon the taking effect of this 
act on the first day of January, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-eight, all the muni- 
cipal and public corporations, except coun- 
ties, which by this act are consolidated with 
the corporation heretofore known as the 
mayor, aldermen and Commonalty of the city 
cf New York, shall cease and determine, 
and their powers to the full extent of legis- 
lative power in this behalf are respectively 
devolved upon the corporation of The City 
of New York as herein constituted and the 
municipal assembly thereof, unless other- 
wise expressly provided in this act or by 
law. And all offices forming part of the 
local government of the said municipal and 
public corporations and parts thereof includ- 
ing cities, villages, towns and school dis- 
tricts, but not including counties, which, by 
the first section of this act, are united and 
consolidated into The City of New York as 
herein constituted, are hereby abolished as 
to all the territory embraced within the lim- 
its of said city, except as herein otherwise 
expressly provided. The foregoing does not 
include the office of recorder of the former 
city of New York, which is hereby continued 
under the name and title of recorder of the 
county of New York. 

Forfeiture or loss of property not 

worked. 

Sec. 1616. Neither the above nor any other 
provisions of this act shall work any for- 
feiture or loss of *ny property or rights 
therein or relating thereto held in trust by 
said municipal and public corporations or 
any of them, or to which they or any of 
them are or may be entitled; and The City 
of New York as herein constituted is hereby 
declared to be the successor in respect of 
such property and rights of the said munici- 
pal or public corporation to which the same 
was granted; and the said city of New York 
shall hold the same as well as all other prop- 
erty and rights to which such corporation 
may be entitled, as successor, on the same 
trusts and charged with the same duties as 
the municipal or public corporation to which 
it was granted. 

Franchises and other grants not af- 
fected. 

Sec. 1617. Neither this act nor anything 
contained therein shall affect any grants of 
franchises or properties or rights of any 
nature in, to or concerning property of any 
character or other grants made by the Nic- 
olls’ charter, the Dongan charter, the Corn- 
bury charter, the Montgomerie charter, by 
the confirmatory act passed the fourteenth 
day of October, seventeen hundred and thirty- 
two, or by any other charter or act granted 
to the corporation known as the mayor, al- 
dermen and commonalty of the city of New 
York, by the state of New York, or granted 
by said state to the city of Brooklyn or to 
any of the other municipal and public corpor- 
ations which are herein united and consoli- 
dated into The City of New York, and each 
and all of said grants are to all intents and 


( 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


161 


purposes hereby ratified, granted, confirmed 
and extended to The City of New York as 
constituted by this act. 

This act; how repealed or amended. 

Sec. 1618. This act or any section or pro- 
vision thereof shall not be deemed to be re- 
pealed or amended by any act of the legis- 
lature, unless It be so expressly stated, or 
the legislative intention to that effect is un- 
mistakable. 

Chapter 942 of the taws of 1896 not re- 
pealed. 

Sec. 1619. Nothing in this act contained 
shall be deemed to repeal the provisions of 
chapter nine hundred and forty-two of the 
laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-six. 
This act a public act. 

Sec. 1620. This act, providing for uniting 
into one municipality various communities, 
including the city and county of New York, 
the city of Brooklyn, the county of Kings, 
the county of Richmond, and part of the 
county of Queens with the municipal and 
public corporations therein, as in this act 
provided, is intended to be and shall be 
deemed and held in all courts and jurisdic- 
tions to be a public act, of which the courts 
shall take judicial notice. And this act shall 
be construed not as an act in derogation of 
the powers of the state but as one 
intended to aid the state in the exe- 
cution of its duties by providing, subject to 
the constitution and laws of the state and the 
provisions and limitations herein contained, 
an adequate scheme of local government for 
the communities and people affected, through 
the Instrumentality of the corporate body 
herein constituted under the name of “The 
City of New York.” 

Section Two, Chapter 496, Laws of 1901 

Sec. 2. The several sections of the said 
chapter three hundred and seventy-eight of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven, the numbers and titles of which are 
set forth in the first schedule annexed to 
this act entitled “The First Schedule. Sec- 
tions of the Greater New York Charter Re- 
pealed,” are and each of them is hereby re- 
pealed. The repeal of any of the sections 
mentioned in the said First Schedule shall 
not affect or impair any act done or right 
accruing, accrued or acquired, or penalty, 
forfeiture or punishment incurred prior to 
January first, nineteen hundred and two, un- 
der or by virtue of the sections so repealed, 
but the same may be enjoyed, asserted, en- 
forced, prosecuted or inflicted as fully and 
to the same extent as if such sections had 
not been repealed; and all actions or pro- 
ceedings, civil or criminal, commenced under 
or by virtue of the sections so repealed, and 
pending December thirty-first, nineteen hun- 
dred and one, may be prosecuted and de- 
fended to final effect in the same manner as 
they might under the sections of the said 
chapter three hundred and seventy-eight of 
the Laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven then existing, unless it shall be other- 
wise specially provided by law. The provis- 
ions of this act, so far as they are substan- 
tially the same as those of laws existing on 
December thirty-first, nineteen hundred and 
one, shall be construed as a continuation of 
said laws, modified or amended according to 
the language employed in this act, and not as 
new enactments, and shall be applicable to 
all matters contained in the several sections 
of the said chapter three hundred and seven- 
ty-eight of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-seven, which are repealed, modified 
or amended by this act. References in laws 
not repealed to provisions of law incorpor- 
ated into this act and repealed shall be con- 
strued as applying to the provisions so in- 
corporated. Whenever by the provisions of 


this act a section which is repealed hereby 
and the number and title of which is con- 
tained in the First Schedule annexed to this 
act has been replaced by a section containing 
the same number, the repeal of the former 
section shall in nowise affect or impair the 
full force, effect and validity of the new sec- 
tion so substituted by the same number. 
Section Three. 

Sec. 3. The several sections of the said 
chapter three hundred and seventy-eight of 
the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven, the numbers and titles of which are 
set forth in the Second Schedule annexed 
to this act entitled “Second Schedule. Sec- 
tions to remain in force until changed by the 
Board of Aldermen,” are and each of them 
is hereby continued in full force and effect 
until the board of aldermen as con- 
stituted by the foregoing provisions of 
this act shall pass ordinances regulating 
the matters provided for in the said 
several sections mentioned in the Second 
Schedule, all of which ordinances the 
said board of aldermen is hereby ex- 
pressly empowered to pass. Upon the pass- 
ing of any such ordinances regulating the 
sections respectively, such section shall 
cease to have any force or effect, and the 
matters provided for in any one of the said 
same is and shall be repealed. 

Section Four. 

Sec. 4. At the general election to be held 
in The City of New York in the year nine- 
teen hundred and one there shall be elected, 
as provided in the Greater New York Char- 
ter as amended by this act, a mayor, a 
comptroller, a president of the board of al- 
dermen, presidents of the several boroughs, 
and coroners and members of the board of 
aldermen, and city magistrates in the second 
division of said city, to the number herein 
provided, all of whom shall hold office for 
the terms and possess the powers and perform 
the duties specified in said Charter as amend- 
ed by this act. 

Section Five. 

Sec. 5. This act shall take effect on the 
first day of January, in the year nineteen 
hundred and two. Provided, however, that 
section nineteen of the Greater New York 
Charter as amended by this act, entitled 
“Aldermanic Districts,” shall take effect im- 
mediately; and provided, that where by the 
terms of the Charter as hereby amended it 
is provided that any act shall be done or for- 
bidden prior to January first, nineteen hun- 
dred and two, then as to such act this act 
shall take effect from and after its passage 
and shall be in force immediately, anything 
in this chapter to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing. And provided, further, that the board 
of estimate and apportionment as now consti- 
tuted and the municipal assembly of The 
City of New York shall during the year nine- 
teen hundred and one make appropriations 
for the year nineteen hundred and two, so 
far as practicable, as though this act had 
fully taken effect at the time of preparing 
the annual budget for the year nineteen hun- 
dred and two. 

THE FIRST SCHEDULE. 

Sections of the Greater New York 
Charter Repealed. 

Section. Title. 

11.. Expense of public schools for the year 

1898. 

19.. Council, how chosen; council districts. 

20.. Term cf office of members of the 

council. 

21.. Mayor, an ex-officio member of the 

council. 

24.. Board of aldermen, how constituted; 

term of office; vacancies, how filled; 

salary. 


Section. Title. 

26. .Id.; how president elected and removed. 

43.. 1d. ; to restrict height of buildings. 

51.. 1d.; licenses to second-hand dealers; 

penalty for violating ordinance. 

52. . 1d. ; designating common jails. 

53.. 1d.; assignment of places for holding 

courts of general and special sessions 
and magistrates’ or police courts. 

54.. 1d. ; assignment of places for holding 

municipal courts. 

102. .Department of buildings. 

128.. Bureau of municipal statistics. 

129.. Bureau; how constituted. 

130.. Chief of bureau to be appointed by the 

mayor. 

131. . Municipal statistical commission; how 

constituted. 

132. .Meetings of commission; quorum. 

133.. Place of meeting. 

134. .Compensa ' • • of chief of bureau and 
his assistants and of the commission. 

135.. Power and duties of the commission. 

136.. Power and duties of chief of bureau. 

137. .Publication of statistics. 

138. .Limitation of expense of maintaining 

the bureau of municipal statistics. 

233. .Salaries of certain officers. 

234.. List of persons and salaries not within 

a department. 

239.. 5treet sweeping contracts to be ap- 

proved by board. 

247. .Comptroller’s duties. 

286.. Police force; chief of police; first ap- 

pointment. 

287.. 1d.; other officers; first appointment. 

293.. 1d. ; absence or disability of. 

295.. Police board; president and treasurer. 

296.. 1d. ; duties of treasurer; bond; deputy 

treasurer. 

304.. 1d.; regulations of civil service commis- 

sioners. 

322.. 1d. ; to provide lodgings for vagrants, 

etc. 

325. . Applications for medical attendance; 

registered physicians. 

326. .Compensation of registered physicians; 

certificate, etc. 

327. .Physician to report to department of 

health. 

328.. Nearest physician to be called; penalty 

for refusal to attend. 

329.. List of registered physicians to be 

posted. 

330.. Hours of service of registered physi- 

cians. 

358. .Elections; powers transferred to police 
board; board and offices abolished. 

359.. General bureau of elections; control of; 

branches. 

360.. 1d.; management; superintendent. 

361.. 1d. ; appointment of chiefs of branches 

and assistants; salaries of assistants; 
detailing members of police force. 

362.. 1d. ; officers; terms and salaries; re- 

movals. 

363.. 1d.; employes continued in service. 

364.. 1d.; appropriation for expenses of. 

365.. 1d. ; superintendent the chief executive 

officer; annual report. 

366.. 1d.; chiefs of branches; duties; location 

of offices. 

367.. 1d. ; election expenses a charge against 

the city. 

368.. 1d.; existing records and property trans- 

ferred to custody of. 

369.. 1d.; superintendent to destroy registers 

of electors, etc. 

370.. 1d.; application of preceding section. 

371. .Disposition of proceeds of sales. 

410.. Board of public improvements; how 

constituted. 

411.. 1d.; president; salary; powers. 


163 


THE CHARTER OF THE CTTT OF WWW WMf. 


Section. Title. 

412.. 1d.; secretary; office; meetings; quorum, 

etc. 

413. .Authorizing public improvements. 

415.. Board of public improvements; power 

wiih respect to certain subjects. 

416.. 1d. ; to prepare ordinances, etc. 

417.. Public improvements; further proced- 

ure. 

418.. Board of public improvements; power 

to prescribe rules, etc. 

444.. Board may detail employes to assist 

president. 

451. .Department branches; where located. 
454. .Engineers’ duties. 

456. .Commissioners; powers to appoint and 
fix salaries. 

457.. 1d.; other duties. 

458.. 1d.; to organize bureaus. 

623. .Commissioner of highways; appoint- 
ment, term, salary. 

624.. 1d.; jurisdiction. 

655. .Commissioner of sewers; appointment; 
salary. 

156.. 1d.; jurisdiction and duties. 

565. .Devolution of powers of the commis- 
sioner of street improvements in the 
twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards 
572. .Commissioner; appointment, term, sal- 
ary. 

673.. 1d. ; jurisdiction. 

574. .Consulting engineer; duties. 

686 .. Former boards to turn over maps, etc., 

to commissioner. 

688. .Devolution of powers of former boards. 
681. .Employment of inmates; articles manu- 
factured; cultivation of lands. 

901.. 5pecial provision for taxes of 1897-1898. 
930. .Enforcing payment of personal taxes; 

fine may be imposed. 

931.. 1d.; order to prosecute; when operates 

as assignment of bond. 

993. .Subdivision of plots. 

1061.. 5chool board, how constituted; vacan- 

cies; member® to hold no other office 
except, etc. 

1065.. Board of education and school hoards 

to administer funds; apportionment 
thereof, how made. 

1066.. 1d. ; may direct comptroller to withhold 

certain appropriations. 

1077.. 1d.; advertising for contracts; security 

for performance. 

1086. .Continuation of yearly contracts with 
teachers in territory consolidated. 

1088.. 0ath of appointees to school office. 

1089. .School board; organization; secretary 

and employes; duties and bond of sec- 
retary. 

1090.. 1d.; powers and duties. 

1092.. 1d.; duties of secretary; chief clerk and 

secretary may administer oaths. 

1093.. 1d.; powers to establish kindergartens, 

etc. 

1094.. 1d. ; power to establish evening schools, 

etc.; may establish, discontinue and 
consolidate schools in boroughs. 

1095.. 1d.; power to establish special classes 

for persons who cannot use the Eng- 
lish language readily. 

1096.. 1d.; power to establish high schools, 

etc. 

1097.. Id.; power to create school inspection 

districts discretionary; mayor ap- 
points inspectors; terms, organiza- 
tions, etc., of inspectors. 

1098.. Duties of inspectors of common schools. 

1100.. 1d. ; to provide for payment of salaries 

to principals and teachers and for dis- 
bursements. 

1101.. 1d.; annual and other reports. 

1102.. 1d.; power to appoint and remove bor- 

ough superintendents and associate 
superintendents of schools; qualifi- 
cations. 


Section. Title. 

1104.. School boards; changing grades of 

schools and classes; fixing standard of 
qualifications for principals and 
teachers. 

1105.. 1..; by-laws governing transfers of 

principals and teachers. 

1106.. 1..; transfer of unemployed principals 

or teachers. 

1107.. 1.. ; board of superintendents of the 

boroughs; how duties regulated. 

1108. .General duties of borough superintend- 

ents and associate superintendents. 

1109. .Borough board of superintendents; lists 

of principals, etc., to be kept by; 
where principals report. 

1110.. 1..; promotion of pupils; transfer of 

teachers by city superintendent of 
schools; preferment where schools are 
consolidated or discontinued. 

1111.. 1..; recommendations of and requi- 

sitions for text books and scholastic 
supplies. 

1112. .Miscellaneous provisions as to powers 
and duties of borough superintend- 
ent, borough board of superintend- 
ents and principals. 

1113.. 1..; qualifications for special branehesv 
1116. .Borough superintendents; enforcing 

compulsory education law; nominat- 
ing, assigning, suspending and dis- 
charging clerks. 

1119.. 5.hool board of the borough of Brook- 

lyn to control and administer the 
public school teachers’ retirement 
fund created by chapter six hundred 
and fifty-six, laws of 1895; composi- 
tion of fund; retirement and pension 
of teachers, 

1190. .Registrar of records. 

1191.. 1..; and payment for night medical 

service. 

. 1281. .Parties to suit brought after twelve 
days; costs against department. 

1381.. Delivery of papers, etc. 

1382.. Disposition of causes pending in dis- 

trict courts, etc. 

1384. .Justices of district courts, etc., to act 
till February 1, 1898. 

1392.. City magistrates in first division con- 

tinued. 

1393.. 0.fice of police justice abolished. 

1394.. City magistrates in second division. 

1395. . 5.lary, etc. 

1396. .Powers. 

1397.. Board of magistrates. 

1399. .Transfer of charges. 

1400.. Clerks and employes. 

1401.. Justices of special session appointed. 

1403.. Qualifications. « 

1404. .Clerks. 

1413. .Appeals from special sessions. 

1414. .Delivery of papers, etc. 

1416. .Pending actions. 

1417. .Designation of magistrates. 

1418. .Justices to act. 

1493. .Killing or selling certain birds pro- 
hibited. 

1510. .Registered pharmacists only to con- 
duct pharmacy except, etc. 

1511.. 1..; qualifications of registered phar- 

macists. 

1512. .Graduates and licentiates defined. 

1513.. Board of pharmacy; election, duties. 

1514.. Books of registration of pharmacists, 

etc. 

1515. .Pharmacists responsible for quality of 
drugs, etc., sold, patent medicines, 
adulteration, etc. 

1516. . Poison; retailing of. 

1517.. Application of preceding sections to 

practitioners of medicine and whole- 
sale dealers. 


Section. Title. 

1518. . Fraudulent registration, permitting un- 

licensed persons to compound medi- 
cine. 

1519. . Penalties to be paid to College of 

Pharmacy. 

1520.. Boards of pharmacy abolished. 

1536. .Retention of office by clerks in public 
employ in territory consolidated. 

1537.. Books, papers, etc., where filed. 

1588. .Proportion of the debt of the county 
of Queens assumed by The City of 
New York; pow r er of board of super- 
visors of said county to bind that 
part thereof included in The City of 
New York restricted. 

1589.. Proportion of the debt of the town of 

Hempstead to be assumed by the 
city; power of town board to bind 
that part thereof included in The 
City of New York restricted. 

1592.. Board of supervisors of Queens county 

not to levy any tax upon that part of 
said county within the city. 

1593. .Comptroller of state to determine 

amount of county charges of Queens 
county to be borne by that part of 
county within the city. 

1594. .Comptroller of state tp determine 

amount of state tax to be paid by the 

part of Queens county within the city; 
how levied and collected. 

1596. .Comptroller of state to apportion 

Queens county school moneys. 

1597.. 5.hool moneys for New York, Kings 

and Richmond counties to be trans- 
mitted to the city. 

THE SECOND SCHEDULE. 

Sections to Remain in Force Until 
Changed by the Board of Aldermen. 

Section. Title. 

346.. Police board; licenses for public ex- 

hibitions. 

347.. 1d.; licenses to emigrant boarding- 

houses; bond. 

348.. 1d.; licenses to bookers of emigrant 

passengers. 

349.. 1d.; licenses to runners; bonds. 

760. .Shavings; how to be stowed away. 

762.. Lights, precautions against fire and use 

of aisles in places of amusement. 

763. .Gunpowder and other explosives; sales 
thereof regulated. 

765. .Petroleum and coal oils, etc.; sale 
thereof. 

768.. Fires and lights on vessels transporting 

petroleum. 

769.. 5torage of certain che-micals regulated. 

770.. 1d.; of certain vegetable products. 

773.. Fines and penalties. 

1207.. As to rags, hides and skins. 

1208. .Unsound cotton. 

1209. .Unsound articles, or deposited contrary 

to orders. 

1211. .Penalties for disobedience. 

1212. .Offensive trades. 1 

1213. .Filling in lands. 

1214.. Yards and cellars. 

1223. .Separate receptacles for ashes and 
garbage. 

1227. .Driving and slaughtering cattle, sheep, 
swine, pigs or calves regulated. 

1454. .Municipal assembly to regulate driv- 
ing, etc. 

1455.. Law of the road. 

1456. .Rubbish, nails, etc., not to be thrown 

in streets. 

1457. .Processions and parades; regulations 

concerning. _ 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


163 


Section. Title. 

1462. .Willfully breaking street lamps, etc. 

1463.. 1d.; detaining offender until name as- 

certained. 

1464.. 1d.; preceding sections no bar to suit 

by person injured. 

1465.. 1d. ; informer relieved of penalty, etc. 
1466. .Definition of “street.” 

1472.. Public exhibitions to be licensed. 

1473.. Police department grants license; fee; 

penalty for neglect to obtain license. 

1474.. 1d.; commutation of license fee. 

1475.. 1d. ; fees to be paid over to comptroller. 


Section. Title. 

1476. .Revocation of license. 

1477. . Penalty for violating provisions of this 

title. 

1478. .Police, etc., to arrest offenders. 

1479. .Corporation counsel may enjoin exhi- 

bitions without license. 

1480. .Preceding sections not applicable to 

certain performances. 

1481. .Exhibitions on Sunday prohibited. 

1482.. Minors under fourteen unaccompanied 

by adult not to be admitted to the- 
atres at night. 


Section. Title. 

1483. .Prohibition of sale of spirituous liquors 

and employment of female waiters. 

1484. .Violation of preceding section annuls 

license. 

1485. .Violation of any provision of the two 

preceding sections a misdemeanor. 

1486. .Police, etc., to enter places of amuse- 

ment and arrest offenders. 

1487.. Doors and exits to be conspicuously 
numbered; diagrams to be printed on 
programmes. 


Sections to Remain in Force Until Changed by 

the Board of Aldermen. 


Amendatory 


Act, Chapter 466, Section 3, Laws of J90 f. 


POLICE DEPARTMENT. 


Police Board. Licenses for pnblic ex- 
hibitions. 

Sec. 346. The police board Is authorized to 
grant licenses for public exhibitions, in the 
manner and on the conditions provided in 
title 2 of Chapter XXII of this act. 

Licenses to emigrant boarding-houses. 

Bond. 

Sec. 347. The police board is authorized to 
grant licenses to persons keeping houses for 
the purpose of boarding emigrant passen- 
gers. But before granting any such license, 
said board shall require from such person 
or persons a bond satisfactory to it, with 
one or more sureties in the penal sum of 
$5,000, conditioned for the good behavior of 
such person or persona, and the proper con- 
duct of all agents or runners in his or their 
employ. The police board may revoke any 
license for cause. The person or persons re- 
ceiving such license shall pay the sum of $10 
a year for such license. 

Licenses to broker* of emigrant pas- 
sengers. 

Sec. 348. The police board is authorized to 
grant licenses to persons exercising the vo- 
cation of booking emigrant passengers, or 
taking money for their inland fare, or for 
the transportation of their baggage. The 
persons receiving such license shall pay the 
sum of $25 a year' for each license. 

Licenses to runners. Bonds. 

Sec. 349. The police board may issue li- 
censes authorizing the person or persons to 
whom the same are issued, upon any street, 
public highway, dock or pier, or in any park 
or square, in the city of New York, or upon 
any water adjacent thereto, over which said 
city has jurisdiction, to solicit patronage for 
any hotel, or inn, or passengers or patronage 
for any steamer, steamboat, ship, vessel or 
railroad, or any person or corporation 
selling or offering for sale passage tickets, or 
contracting or offering to contract for pas- 
sage in any such steamer, steamboat, ship, 
vessel or railroad. Such license shall be for 
the period of one year from the date thereof, 
and every person receiving such license shall 
«*v the sum of $20 therefor to the police 


board, and shall also give to said board a 
bend, with two good and sufficient sureties in 
the penalty of $300, conditioned for his good 
behavior, and the faithful observance by him 
of the provisions of this section. It shall be 
lawful for said board, upon an application 
made prior to the expiration of said license 
to renew and continue the same year to 
year, provided that the applicant therefor 
continues in all respects qualified, as herein 
provided, to hold such license, and the said 
applicant shall, upon receiving such renewal, 
pay into the city treasury the further sum 
of $12.50 per annum as a renewal fee. Li- 
censes and renewals may be revoked at any 
time by the said board for any cause satis- 
factory to it, such cause to be stated in writ- 
ing to the person so removed at the time of 
the notice of his removal. No person shall 
receive any license under the provisions of 
this section who is not a citizen of the 
United States and a person of good general 
character; such fact to be proved to the sat- 
isfaction of the police board. Said board shall 
render to the comptroller of said city quar- 
terly accounts of all moneys received by it 
under the provisions of this section, and the 
amount so received shall be paid over by said 
board into the city treasury. 


FIRE DEPARTMENT. 


PREVENTION OF FIRES— EXPLO- 
SIVE AND COMBUSTIBLE 
MATERIALS. 


Shavings; how to he stowed away. 

■Sec. 760. All carpenters or others in said 
city making or using shavings shall, at the 
close of each day, cause the same to be 
securely stowed in some safe place remote 
from danger by fire, under the penalty of $5 
for each omission to do so. No person shall 
kindle any fire nor furnish the materials, nor 
in any way authorize or allow any fire to be 
made in any street, road, alley, lane or upon 
any pier, wharf or bulkhead jn the city, ex- 
cept under such regulations as shall be es- 
tablished by the fire commissioner, under a 
penalty of $10 for each and every such 
offense. II any chimney, stove pipe, or flue 


within the city shall take fire the occupant 
of the premises to which such chimney, 
stove or flue appertains shall forfeit the 
sum of $5. 

Lights, precantion* against Arc and 

use of aisles in places of amusement. 

Sec. 762. All lights used in theaters and 
other places of public amusement, manufac- 
tories, stores, hotels, lodging houses and in 
show windows shall be properly protected by 
globes or glass coverings, or in such other 
manner as the fire commissioner shall pre- 
scribe. The owners and proprietors of all 
manufactories, hotels, tenement houses, 
apartment houses, ofHce buildings, boarding 
and lodging houses, warehouses, stores and 
offices, theaters and music halls, and the 
authorities or persons having charge of all 
hospitals and asylums, and of the public 
schools and other public buildings, churches 
and other places where large numbers of 
persons are congregated for purposes of 
worship, instruction or amusement, shall 
provide such means of communicating alarms 
of fire, accident or danger, to the police and 
fire departments respectively as the fire 
commissioner or police board may direct, 
and shall also provide such fire hose, fire ex- 
tinguishers, buckets, axes, fire hooks, fire 
doors, and other means of preventing and ex- 
tinguishing fires as said fire commissioner 
may direct. In every building used or oc- 
cupied as a hotel, lodging house or public or 
private hospital or asylum, there shall be 
employed -by the owner or proprietor, or 
other person or persons having the charge 
or management thereof, one or more watch- 
men, whose exclusive duty it shall be to 
visit every portion of such building, at regu- 
lar and frequent intervals, under rules and 
regulations to be established by the fire com- 
missioner, for the purpose of detecting fire 
or other sources of danger, and giving time- 
ly warning thereof to the inmates of the 
building. In every room in each of said 
buildings there shall be posted a card, upon 
which shall be printed a diagram showing 
the exits, halls, stairways, elevators and fire 
escapes, and in the halls and passageways, 
signs shall be posted indicating the location 
of the stairs and fire escapes. In each of 
the said buildings there shall be placed and 
provided electrical or other alarms and time 
detectors, to be approved by the fire com- 


164 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


missioner, by means of which the movements 
of said watchman may be recorded, and 
through which alarms of fire or other danger 
may be Instantly communicated, by means of 
bells or gongs, to every portion of the build- 
ing. Said electrical apparatus, and all other 
appliances placed or kept within any of said 
buildings for the purpose of preventing or 
extinguishing fires, or for affording means of 
escape therefrom in case of fire, shall be 
kept at all times in good working order and 
proper condition for immediate use, and any 
member of the uniformed force of said de- 
partment may enter any of the said build- 
ings at any time for the purpose of inspect- 
ing said apparatus or appliances. The fire 
commissioner may detail, not to exceed two 
members of the uniformed force of said de- 
partment, at each and every place of amuse- 
ment where machinery and scenery are in 
use, while such place is open to the public, 
whose duty it shall be to guard against fire, 
and who shall have charge and control of 
the means provided for its extinguishment, 
and shall have control and direction of the 
employes of the place to which they may be 
detailed for the purpose of extinguishing any 
fire which may occur therein. It shall also 
be the duty of such member or members of 
the uniformed force of said department to 
inspect every portion of the building or 
buildings to which they may be detailed, dur- 
ing public performances therein, for the pur- 
pose of guarding and protecting the occu- 
pants from fire or panic. Whenever any 
member of the uniformed force of said de- 
partment shall discover in any inside aisle 
or passageway in any such place of amuse- 
ment any camp stools, chaffs, sofas or -other- 
obstructions or any person or persons stand- 
ing or sitting therein during any public 
performance, it shall be the duty of such 
member of the uniformed force forthwith 
to notify the proprietor or manager of such 
place cf amusement, or any usher, agent or 
other employe of such proprietor or manager 
then present, to cause such obstruction to be 
forthwith removed, or to cause the person 
or persons standing or sitting in such aisles 
or passageways to forthwith vacate the same. 
If the manager or proprietor, or such usher, 
agent or employe shall cause or permit any 
camp stools, chairs, sofas or other obstruc- 
tions to be placed or remain in tbe aisle or 
passageway in any such place of amusement, 
or shall cause, or permit any person to stand 
■»r sit therein during any public performance, 
•or, having been so notified, shall neglect or 
refuse to cause such obstruction to be forth- 
with removed, or to cause such person or 
persons to forthwith vacate said aisles or 
passageways, they shall each severally be 
deemed to have violated the provisions and 
requirements of this title and the regula- 
tions or orders duly made thereunder, and 
shall be subject to the penalties prescribed 
in this act. In all places of public amuse- 
ment or entertainment, not included in the 
foregoing provisions, except in fireproof 
kujjdings, there shall be employed, by the 
owner or proprietor thereof, one or more 
watchmen whose exclusive duty it shall be 
to protect and guard the inmates of such 
buildings from fire and other sources or 
danger. 

An ordinance to regulate the sale, nse 
and transportation of explosives In 
The City of New York. (Changing sec- 
tion 703 of the Greater New York 
Charter.) 

Sec. 7S3. Be it ordained by the Board of 
Aldermen of The City of New York, as fol- 
low*: 

L X. Within thirty (30) days after the passage 


of this ordinance there shall be a municipal 
explosives commission which shall be consti- 
tuted as follows: The said commission shall 
consist of five (5) members; the fire commis- 
sioner of The City of New York shall be ex- 
officio chairman and a member of the said 
commission. The remaining four (4) mem- 
bers shall be appointed by the mayor, and 
one of the said four (4) must be appointed 
from a list of ten' to be submitted by the 
New York section of the American Chemical 
Society. The said commission shall hold of- 
fice during the pleasure of the mayor. 

2. It shall be the duty of the said commis- 
sion to formulate and adopt such regulations 
as in its judgment may be necessary to carry 
out the purpose of this ordinance, and from 
time fi^time to add to or in any way change 
or amend such regulations. The said regu- 
lations and the amendments thereto and any 
changes which shall be made therein shall 
be subject to approval by the mayor, and 
when so approved shall be published by the 
fire .commissioner in the City Record, and 
in effch other manner as he shall deem neces- 
sary. 

3. Said commission, hereby established, 
shall meet at the call of the fire commission- 
er for the consideration of all matters per- 
taining to this ordinance, and each member 
thereof shall receive a fee of ten dollars 
($10) for attendance at each meeting. A ma- 
jority of such commission shall constitute a 
quorum for the purpose of doing business. 

4. No person, firm or corporation, shall 
have, keep, sell, use, give away or transport, 
any gun powder, blasting powder, gun cot- 
ton, dynamite, nitro-glycerine, or any sub- 
stance or compound Or mixture or article 
having properties of such a character that 
alone or in. combination or contiguity with 
other substances or compounds it may de- 
compose suddenly and generate sufficient 
heat, or gas, or pressure, or all of them, to 
produce rapid flaming combustion or admin- 
ister a destructive blow to surrounding per- 
sons or things, within the corporate limits of 
The City of New York, excepting in the 
manner and upon the conditions herein pro- 
vided, and under license issued by the Fire 
Commissioner under such regulations as the 
Municipal Explosives Commission shall pre- 
scribe. The said fire commissioner shall 
have power to revoke the license or licenses 
in case, in his judgment, there is an infrac- 
tion of the provisions of this ordinance or of 
the regulations of the Municipal Explosives 
Commission. 

5. No licensee shall employ any one in the 
use or care of explosives such as are used 
in blasting operations unless such person 
shall hold a certificate of fitness issued t" 
him by the fire commissioner under the 
regulations established by the Municipal Ex- 
plosives Commission. 

6. No gunpowder, blasting powder, dyna- 
mite, gun cotton, nitro-glycerine, or such 
other explosives as may be hereafter desig- 
nated tor prohibition under this ordinance 
by the Municipal Explosives Commission 
shall be manufactured in the said city. 

7. No holder of a license hereunder can 
avail himself of any of the privileges of the 
same until he shall have filed a bond with 
the said commissioner in the penal sum of 
not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) 
nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), 
to be approved by the controller, the amount 
of the said bond to be determined by the 
regulations as prescribed by the Municipal 
Explosives Commission, said bond to be con- 
ditioned for the payment of any loss, damage 
or injury resulting to persons or property 


from explosions and for the strict observance 
of this ordinance and the regulations made 
hereunder. 

8. The Municipal Explosives Commission 
may, by a unanimous vote of its members, 
subject to the approval of the fire commis- 
sioner, provide for an increase of the 
amount of the bond to be filed with the said 
commissioner, in accordance with Section 7 
of this ordinance, to an amount not exceed- 
ing twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), 
said bond to be approved by the controller 
in accordance with Section 7 of this Ordi- 
nance. 

9. In case of the violation of the provi- 
sions of this ordinance or regulations on ex- 
plosives, even though no damage to persona 
or property be sustained, twenty (20) per 
cent, of said bond for the first Infraction and 
the whole amount for the second offense 
shall be forfeited erefor and paid over 
to and for the use and benefit of the Relief 
Fund of the Fire Department of the City of 
New York. 

10. The commander, owner or owners of 
any ship or vessel arriving in the harbor of 
New York, and having more than twenty- 
eight (28) pounds of gun powder or other 
explosive named in this ordinance on 
board shall, immediately upon arrival 
and before such ship or vessel shall 
approach nearer than 300 yards of the 
pier line of said city, give written no- 
tice to the fire commissioner of the fact 
that such explosives are on said vessel. 
And all vessels having on board or loading 
explosives exceeding twenty-eight (28) 
pounds shall cause to be displayed at the 
masthead nearest the land while remaining 
within the city limits a red flag at least five 
feet square, and no ship or vessel shall lie 
at the pier after sunset having more than 
twenty-eight (28) pounds of explosives with- 
out a permit from the said commissioner, 
said permit to be issued for not exceeding 
forty-eight (48) hours. 

11. Nothing in this ordinance shall be con- 
strued to apply to any ship or vessel of war 
in the service <tf the United States or any 
foreign government while lying at a distance 
of 300 yards or upward from the pier line of 
said city, nor to any ship or vessel of war in 
the service of the United States while lying 
in any part of the Navy Yard in the Borough 
of Brooklyn. 

12. This ordinance shall take effect imme- 
diately. Adopted by the Board of Aldermen 
May 13, 1902. Approved by the mayor May 
19, 1902. 

Petroleum and coni oilK, etc.} sale 

thereof. 

Sec. 765. No person shall have, keep on 
sale, or store in any place or building within 
the corporate limits of the city, any crude 
petroleum, coal or any similar oil, nor any 
of their products, either of which shall emit 
an inflammable vapor at a temperature below 
one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, except un- 
der the following provisions: or any of their 
products may be stored in detached and 
properly ventilated warehouses, the outer 
walls of which shall be stone, brick, or iron, 
especially adapted for the purpose by hav- 
ing raised sills, at least two feet high, or 
the ground floor of which shall be at leaht 
two feet below the level of the street or ad- 
joining yard, or so constructed as to actually 
prevent the overflow of such substances be- 
yond the premises where the same may be 
kept stored, which said warehouses shall not 
be occupied in any part as a dwelling, and if 
less than fifty feet from any adjacent dwell- 
ing, the same must be separated by a brick 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


165 


or stone wall, at least ten feet In height and 
sixteen inches thick, constructed in such 
manner as said commissioner may prescribe, 
but the same may be stored in such other 
manner as said commissioner may designate 
under a special permit issued therefor. No 
refined petroleum, kerosene, coal or similar 
oil, or earth or rock oil, or machinery oil, 
or any product thereof to be used for illum- 
inating or heating purposes which shall emit 
an inflammable vapor at a temperature be- 
low one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, shall 
be kept upon sale or stored within the cor- 
porate limits of the city. All said articles 
shall be tested and their quality determined 
by sanitary surveyors authorized by said 
commissioner, using O. Tagliabue’s instru- 
ments, or such other instruments as may be 
designated by said commissioner, the barrels 
or packages containing the same to be legibly 
stamped or marked with said Inspector’s offi- 
cial stamp or mark. No refined petroleum, 
kerosene, gasoline, naphtha, or benzine, ben- 
zole, camphene, or burning fluid or products 
or compounds containing any of said sub- 
stances, when temporarily placed above the 
cellar or basement of any building, and in 
barrels of not over forty-five gallons each, 
or in metallic vessels or tanks, shall exceed 
in the whole quantity the contents of fifty 
of said barrels; provided, however, that the 
whole quantity of said refined oils that may 
be so kept or stored over night shall not ex- 
ceed the contents of ten of said barrels, un- 
less stored in the manner provided for stor- 
ing crude petroleum, and when stored in cel- 
lars or basements, surrounded by walls of 
brick or stone, and at least two feet below 
the level or grade of the sidewalk, street or 
land adjacent, the whole quantity shall not 
exceed the contents of 15C barrels, unless 
stored in warehouses specially adapted for 
that purpose, as required for the storage of 
crude petroleum under this section; provid- 
ed, also, that no quantity of said oils greater 
than one barrel shall be stored or kept in any 
building occupied in any part thereof a3 a 
dwelling. No refined petroleum, kerosene, 
gasoline, naphtha, benzine, benzole, cam- 
phene, burning fluid or products or com- 
pounds containing any of said substances, 
shall be kept or stored on or above the first 
story or floor of any building exceeding in 
the whole quantity the contents of five bar- 
rels, of forty gallons each. In no case shall 
any of the articles named in this section be 
allowed to remain on the sidewalk beyond 
the front line of any building, or in or upon 
the streets, docks, piers, bulkheads, slips, 
highways or public places a longer time than 
is actually necessary for. the removal or load- 
ing of the same, and said commissioner may 
establish and enforce general regulations 
and issue such orders and special directions 
relative to the handling, lightering, carting, 
loading and transportation of the several ar- 
ticles named under this section ae in his dis- 
cretion shall be deemed necessary for the 
public protection, and said commissioner may 
issue special permits authorizing the keeping 
of any of the articles enumerated under this 
section in buildings, tanks or structures fire- 
proof throughout, in such quantities, in such 
manner and subject to such regulations a3 
shall tend to secure the same against danger. 
Fires and lights on vessels transport- 
ing petroleum. 

Sec. 768. It shall be unlawful for the owner 
or for any of the officers, employes, or crew 
of any ship, vessel, canal boat, barge, light- 
er, boat or other craft lying at or within one 
hundred and fifty feet of any warehouse, 
yard, shed, dock, pier, bulkhead, wharf or 


other place within the City of New York, at, 
in, or on which petroleum oil, or any of its 
products, is stored, or kept for export, or in 
quantities exceeding ten thousand gallons; 
or, for any other person or persons, to bring, 
keep, have or use, or suffer or permit to be 
brought, kept, had or used on board of any 
such ship, vessel, canal boat, barge, lighter, 
boat or other craft, or at, in, or on any such 
warehouse, shed, yard, dock, pier, bulkhead, 
wharf, or other place, any lighted match, or 
lighted cigar, cigarette or pipe, or any fire 
or light of any kind, without, or otherwise 
than in strict conformity with the written 
permission of the owner, lessee or superin- 
tendent of such warehouse, shed, yard, dock, 
pier, bulkhead, wharf, or other place, speci- 
fying the fire or light to be kept, had, or 
used, the particular purpose for, and the 
place or spot at which the same may be so 
kept, had, or used, and the particular man- 
ner of keeping, having, or using the same. 
This section shall not apply to steam tugs 
while transacting their ordinary business, 
nor to steam fire engines engaged in extin- 
guishing fires. Every violation of this sec- 
tion shall be a misdemeanor, triable before 
the court of special sessions. 

An ordinance to regulate the sale, nse 

and transportation •( explosives in 

The City of New York. (Changing; 

section 760 of the Greater New York 

Charter.) 

Sec. 769. Be it ordained by the Board of 
Aldermen of The City of New York as fol- 
lows: 

1. No person, firm or corporation shall 
have, use, keep, sell or give away anyffsub- 
stance or compound or mixture having’ such 
properties that it may, spontaneously or act- 
ing under the influence of any contiguous 
substance, or of any chemical or physical 
agency, ignite, inflame or generate inflam- 
mable vapors to a dangerous extent, within 
the limits of The City of New York, except 
in the manner and upon the conditions herein 
provided and under such regulations as the 
Municipal Explosives Commission shall pre- 
scribe. The fire commissioner of said city, 
under and in pursuance of regulations estab- 
lished by the Municipal Explosives Commis- 
sion, may issue licenses to any person de- 
siring to have, use, keep, sell or give away, 
any of the article 3 designated in this section. 
The Municipal Explosives Commission shall 
prepare such regulations as in its judgment 
may be necessary to control the storage and 
handling of the ' materials specified in this 
section, and it shall from time to time add 
to such list and bring under such regulations 
such other materials as the public safety may 
require. Said regulations and the^amend- 
ments thereto shall be subject to "approval 
by the mayor, and when so approved shall be 
published by the fire commissioner in the 
City Record and in such other manner as 
he may deem necessary. 

2. This ordinance shall take effect immedi- 
ately. Adopted by the Board of Aldermen 
May 13. 1902. Approved by the mayor May 
19, 1902. 

Of certain vegetable products. 

Sec. 770. No quantity of cotton, hay, 
straw, flax, hemp, husks, rushes, oakum, 
rags, seaweed, jute or other vegetable fiber 
when pressed or baled greater than twenty 
tons in the whole, shall be stored or kept in 
any building within the city of New York, 
unless kept in a building fireproof through- 
out, or upon an open space of ground sur- 
rounded by a wall constructed entirely of 
fireproof materials at least twelve feet high 
and twelve inches thick, or within a fireproof 


building, remote or distant at least fifty feet 
from any adjacent building, or in a building 
approved by the New York board of under- 
writers or the fire commissioner, and of 
which approval a certificate shall have been 
issued by said board or commissioner, and 
shall not have been revoked; and none of the 
articles enumerated in this section, when 
loose or not baled, shall be kept as afore- 
said in quantity exceeding one thousand 
pounds in the whole; excepting in a private 
stable, in which may be kept such loose hay 
and straw in quantity not exceeding twenty- 
five hundred pounds in the whole, except 
upon the approval of the fire commissioner. 
No person shall have, put or keep any hay or 
straw uncovered in any stack or pile or in 
any other way exposed, within one hundred 
yards of any building in said city, or shall 
have, put or keep within said city any hay, 
straw, hemp, flax, shavings or rushes in any 
building not built of stone or brick, or iron, 
or covered with tile or slate, or other fire- 
proof material, which is or shall be within 
ten feet of any dwelling house or chimney 
whatsoever, except upon like approval. 
Fires and penalties. 

Sec. 773. Any person, persons or corpora- 
tions for the violation of or non-compliance 
with any of the several provisions of the 
several sections of this title, when the 
penalty is not therein specially provided, 
shall severally forfeit and pay a fine or pen- 
alty in the sum of fifty dollars for each and 
every offense, or shall forfeit and pay the 
penalties respectively imposed under any of 
said sections, and shall also be severally lia- 
ble for any costs or expenses that may be 
Incurred by any violation of, or non-compli- 
ance with, any requirement under said sec- 
tions, and shall also be severally liable for 
the payment of the further penalty of the 
sum of fifty dollars for any violation of, or 
non-compliance with, any regulation, order 
or special direction issued by said commis- 
sioner, or for failure to attend and testify 
as required by any subpena issued, as au- 
thorized under this chapter. Said commis- 
sioner may, in his discretion, pay a portion 
of a fine or penalty when collected, not to 
exceed one-half thereof, to any person giv- 
ing information of any such violation. All 
suits and proceedings authorized by this title 
or to recover any penalty for the violation of 
or failure to comply with any law or any 
rule, regulation, order or requirement of, or 
made pursuant to the provisions of any law, 
the enforcement of which is charged upon 
said department, or any of the several bu- 
reaus thereof, shall be brought by and in the 
name of the fire commissioner of the city of 
New York, but no fees or costs shall be de- 
manded of said department in any such suit 
or proceeding. Any person who shall will- 
fully violate or neglect or refuse to comply 
with any provision or requirement of this 
title or any regulation, order or special di- 
rection duly made thereunder, shall also be 
guilty of a misdemeanor. 


DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, i 


ORGANIZATION, ADMINISTRATION, 
AUTHORITY, DUTY AND POWERS 
OF DEPARTMENT. 


As to rags, hides and skins. 

Sec. 1,207. No rags, hides or skins arriving 
in the port of New York shall be deposited 
in any part of the city within which the de- 
partment of health shall have prohibited the 
packing or unpacking of salted provisions. 


166 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


and all such articles brought Into the city 
contrary to the above provisions may be 
seized and sold by the board of health. The 
department of health may, however, permit 
sound hides and skins to be brought into 
any part of the city, in small quantities, and 
for the purpose of immediate manufacture, 
but not otherwise. 

Unsound cotton. 

Sec. 1,208. It shall be the duty of the mas- 
ter and owner of every vessel that shall have 
brought cotton into the city between the 
first day of May and the first day of Novem- 
ber in any year, and of the owner and con- 
signee, of such cotton, if upon_ examination 
it shall appear damaged, or otherwise un- 
sound, to make an immediate report thereof 
to the board of health. Every master, or 
owner, or consignee refusing or neglecting 
to perform the duties so enjoined, shall, for 
each offense, forfeit to the board of health 
the sum of five hundred dollars; to be re- 
covered in a civil action by said board. 
Unsound articles, or deposited con- 
trary to orders. 

Sec. 1,209. All salted, smoked, preserved or 
pickled provisions, and all hides, skins and 
cotton that may be kept or deposited in 
those parts of the city wherein the board of 
health shall prohibit the keeping, prepara- 
tion, packing or repacking thereof, at the 
time or times when such prohibition shall be 
made, shall be reported forthwith by the 
owner or person having charge thereof to the 
health department, that the same may be ex- 
amined, and, if necessary, destroyed or re- 
moved. If such articles, when ordered by the 
board of health to be removed or destroyed, 
shall not be forthwith removed and the order 
obeyed by the owner or person having charge 
thereof, the sanitary superintendent shall 
cause them to be removed to some safe place, 
there to remain at the risk of the owner, or, 
if so ordered, may destroy the same. 
Penalties of disobedience. 

Sec. 1,211. Every person who shall refuse 
or neglect to obey the directions of the pre- 
ceding sections or of the board of health pur- 
suant thereto, in relation to provisions, putrid 
and other offensive articles therein mention- 
ed, shall be considered guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and, on conviction, shall be subject 
to fine and imprisonment, or both, at the 
discretion of the court. Such fine shall not 
exceed one thousand dollars and such im- 
prisonment shall not exceed two years. 
Offensive trades. 

Sec. 1,212. It shall not be lawful for any 
person or persons, incorporated or unincor- 
porated, to carry on, establish, prosecute, or 
continue, within the city of New York, the 
occupation, or trade, or business of bone 
boiling, bone burning, bone grinding, horse 
skinning, cow skinning, or skinning of dead 
animals, or the boiling of offal, and any such 
establishment or establishments, or place of 
such business existing within said city, shall 
be forthwith removed out of said city, and 
such trade, occupation, or business shall be 
forthwith abated and discontinued, provided 
that nothing in the seetion contained shall 
apply to the slaughtering or dressing of ani- 
mals for sale in said city. It shall be the 
duty of the board of health to ascertain 
whether any such trade or business is car- 
ried on, or contlnuedi or established, within 
the limits aforesaid, and to make and cause 
an order to be served in the same manner 
as other orders of said department are made 
and served directing the discontinuance of 
said trade or business, and the removal of 
all offensive or unwholesome materials or 
things appertaining to said trade or busl- 

refta. 


Filling; in Land. 

Sec. 1,213. It shall not be lawful for any 
person or persons, incorporated or unincor- 
porated, to fill in any land under or above 
water, within the limits of the city of New 
York, or on any of the islands situated with- 
in said limits and under the Jurisdiction of 
said city, or any portion thereof, with gar- 
bage, dead animals, decaying matter, or any 
offensive and unwholesome material, or with 
dirt, ashes or other refuse, when mixed with 
such garbage, dead animals or portions 
thereof, decaying matter or offensive and un- 
wholesome material. Any person or persons 
violating the provisions of this section shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on 
conviction thereof, shall be punished by a 
fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or 
imprisonment not exceeding six months, or 
both. The Board of Health is hereby em- 
powered to institute prosecution and suits 
for penalties for the violation of the provi- 
sions of this section and this act. 

Yards and cellars. 

Sec. 1,214. The board of health shall have 
full power and authority to make such by- 
laws and ordinances as said board shall, 
from time to time, deem necessary and prop- 
er, for the filling, draining and regulating 
of any grounds, yards or cellars, within the 
city, that may be sunken, damp or unwhole- 
some, or -which it may deem proper to fill, 
drain, raise, lower or regulate, and, also, for 
causing all such lots of ground in the city 
adjoining the Hudson River or the East 
River, or Long Island Sound, as it may, 
from time to time, think proper, to be filled 
with wholesome earth or other solid mate- 
rials, so far into the said rivers respectively 
as said board shall, from time to time, deem 
expedient for promoting the health of the 
said city, and for filling or altering or 
amending all sinks and privies within the 
said city, and for directing the mode of con- 
structing them in future, and for causing 
subterraneous drains to be made from the 
same, when said board may think it neces- 
sary. 

Separate receptacles for ashes and 
garbage. 

Sec. 1,223. The board of health shall cause 
to be enforced the provisions of the sanitary 
code requiring that separate receptacles be 
provided for ashes and rubbish, and for gar- 
bage and liquid substances, and forbidding 
that they be placed or kept in the same re- 
ceptacle, and requiring the streets and side- 
walks to be kept free from incumbrance by 
such receptacle's, except at such times as 
may be designated by the commissioner of 
street cleaning for the collection of their 
contents; and for the violation of any of the 
said provisions of said code both the owners 
and occupants of all houses in the city shall 
be severally responsible and subject to the 
penalties and prosecutions imposed by said 
code, and all other provisions of said code 
and of the city ordinances relative to the 
cleanliness of the streets; and the board of 
health is empowered to institute prosecu- 
tions and suits for penalties for the violation 
of any such provisions. 

Driving and slaughtering cattle, 
sheep, swine, pigs or calves regu- 
lated. 

See. 1,227. It shall not be lawful to drive 
any cattle, sheep, swine, pigs or calves 
through the streets or avenues of the City 
of New York, or any of them, except at such 
times and in such manner as provided in 
the sanitary code, or as the board of 
health may. by ordinance, prescribe, nor 
s'i-11 it 'le lawful f o slnu-b'er rny cattle. 


sheep, swine, pigs or calves in The City of 
New York, excepting in buildings located 
upon or near the water front, and so con- 
structed as to receive all stock delivered 
thereat from boats, cars or transports and 
to secure the proper care and disposition of 
all parts of the slaughtered animals upon 
the premises or the immediate removal 
thereof by means of boats and under the 
provisions of the sanitary code and the au- 
thority and regulations of the department 
of health. The board of health may re- 
voke or suspend the permit of any one who 
shall conduct said business of slaughtering 
cattle, sheep, swine, pigs or calves in viola- 
tion of law; and the rules and regulations of 
the department of health. No fat, hides, 
hoofs or entrails or other refuse parts of 
slaughtered animals shall be transported in 
said streets except under and pursuant to 
the terms of a permit in writing from the 
board of health; nor shall any building be 
erected or converted into or used as a 
slaughter house until the plans thereof have 
been duly submitted to the board of health 
and approved in writing by the said board. 


GENERAL STATUTES. 1 

53 

THE STREETS. 

Municipal assembly to regulate driv- 
ing, etc. 

Sec. 1,454. The municipal assembly Is 
hereby authorized and empowered to pass 
ordinances regulating the rate of speed at 
which horses shall be driven or ridden, and 
at which vehicles shall be propelled through 
any street within the city of New York, and 
to pass ordintnees regulating the use of the 
streets in said city by foot passengers, vehi- 
cles and animals. Any person violating any 
ordinance so passed shall be deemed guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction 
thereof by any magistrate either upon con- 
fession of the party or competent testimony, 
may be fined for such offense any sum fixed 
by such ordinance as a penalty not exceed- 
ing $10, and in default of payment of such 
fine may be committed to prison by such 
magistrate until the same be paid; but such 
imprisonment shall not exceed ten days. 
Until the municipal assembly shall pass or- 
dinances regulating the matters which by 
this title it is authorized to regulate, the 
laws and. ordinances now applicable to such 
matters in the different parts of the city of 
New York, as constituted by this act, shall 
continue and remain in f:::! force and effect. 

Law of the road. 

Sec. 1,455. In all cases of persons meeting 
each other in any street in the city of New 
York, In carriages, wagons, carts, bicycles, 
tricycles or sleighs, each person so meeting 
shall go to that side of the street on his 
right, so as to enable the carriages, wagons, 
carts, bicycles, tricycles or sleighs so meet- 
ing to pass each other, under the penalty of 
five dollars for every offense, to be recovered 
by an action with costs of suit, in any court 
having cognizance thereof, by any person 
suing for the same. The proprietor of the 
carriage, wagon, cart, bicycle, tricycle or 
sleigh neglecting or refusing to turn to the 
right, as above directed, shall be considered 
if present at the time of such meeting, as the 
person committing the said offense, and if 
absent, then the driver of such carriage, 
wagon, cart, or sleigh, or the rider of such 
nwi. .«• nr f-rle ole s‘a!> b ■> so considered. 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


16T 


Rubbish, nails, etc., not to be thrown 
in the streets. 

Sec. 1,456. No person or persons shall 
throw, cast or lay, or direct, suffer, or per- 
mit any servant, agent, or employe to throw, 
cast or lay any ashes, offal, vegetables, gar- 
bage, dross, cinders, shells, straw, shavings, 
paper, dirt, filth or rubbish of any kind what- 
ever, in any street in the city of New York. 
The willful violation of any of the foregoing 
provisions of this section shall be and is 
hereby declared to be a misdemeanor, and 
shall be punished by a fine of not less than 
one dollar nor more than ten dollars, or by 
Imprisonment for a term of not less than 
one, nor more than five days. It shall be a 
misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not 
more than five dollars for the first offense 
nor more than ten dollars for the second of- 
fense, and for the third offense not less than 
twenty-five nor more than fifty dollars, or 
by imprisonment for not less than three nor 
more than thirty days, or by both such fine 
and imprisonment, for any person being the 
owner or the agent, or the employe of the 
owner of any truck, cart, wagon, or other 
vehicles, or of any box, barrel, bale of mer- 
chandise, or other movable property, to 
leave, or suffer or permit to be left, such 
truck, cart, wagon or other vehicle unhar- 
nessed upon any public street within the city 
of New York; or, except upon such portion 
of any marginal street or wharf or place as, 
by the provisions of this act, is committed to 
the custody and control of the board of 
docks, to leave, or suffer or permit to be 
kept, any such barrel, box, bale, or other 
property, or to erect or cause to be erected, 
any shed, building or other obstruction upon 
any such public street; but a truck, cart, 
wagon, or vehicle for which a permit shall 
have been issued under the provisions of 
this act, may lawfully occupy, between the 
hours of six o’clock in the evening and 
seven o’clock in the morning, and on Sun- 
days and legal holidays, but at no other 
time, and in such case only so long as said 
permit remains in force under the provisions 
of this act, the particular portion of any 
street, designated and described in said per- 
mit, and also except that in case of an acci- 
dent to a truck, cart, wagon or other vehicle, 
the owner or driver of said truck, cart, 
wagon or other vehicle, if it be disabled by 
such accident, shall be allowed a reasonable 
time, not exceeding three hours, to re- 
move it. 

Every person who shall willfully throw, 
expose or place, or who shall willfully cause 
or procure to be thrown, exposed or placed 
in or upon any street in the city of New 
York, open for the passage of animals, any 
nails, pieces of metal, glass or other sub- 
stance or thing which might maim, wound, 
lame, cut, or otherwise injure any animal, 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Every person who shall willfully throw, ex- 
pose or place, or who shall cause or procure 
to be thrown, exposed or placed in or upon 
any street in the city of New York, open for 
the passage of animals, except upon the 
curves, crossings or switches of railroad 
tracks, any salt, or saltpeter, for the purpose 
of dissolving any snow or ice w'hich may 
have fallen or been deposited thereon, shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Processions and parades-, regulations 

concerning. 

Sec. 1,457. All processions ot parades oc- 
cupying or marching upon any street, to the 
exclusion or interruption of other citizens Id 
their individual right and use thereof (ex- 
cepting the national guard and the police and 


fire departments, and associations of veteran 
soldiers) are forbidden unless written notice 
of the object, time and route of such proces- 
sion or parade be given by the chief officer 
thereof, not less than six hours previous to 
its forming or marching, to the police au- 
thorities of the city, and It may be lawful 
for said police authorities to designate to 
such procession or parade how much of the 
street in width it can occupy, with especial 
reference to crowded thoroughfares through 
which said procession may move, and, when 
so designated, the chief officer of said proces- 
sion or parade shall be responsible that the 
designation is obeyed; and it shall be the 
duty of the police authorities to furnish such 
escort as may be necessary to protect persons 
and property and maintain the public peace 
and order. 

All processions or parades on Sunday, in 
any street of the city, excepting only funeral 
processions engaged in the actual burial of 
the dead, and processions to and from any 
plgce of worship in connection with a reli- 
gious service there celebrated, are forbid- 
den; and in no such excepted case shall 
there be any music, fireworks, discharge of 
cannon or firearms, or other disturbing 
noise; provided that in any military or 
Grand Army of the Republic funeral music 
may be played while escorting the body to 
and from such places, but such music shall 
not be played within one block of any place 
of worship where worship is being cele- 
brated. 

Every person willfully violating any pro- 
vision of this section or any ordinance 
passed by the municipal assembly pursuant 
to the last preceding section shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor punishable with a fine not 
exceeding twenty dollars or imprisonment 
not exceeding ten daye, or both, at the dis- 
cretion of the court. 

Willfully breaking street lamps, etc. 

Sec. 1,462. If any person shall willfully 
break, take down, or carry away any glass 
lamp hung or fixed in any of the streets of 
the city of New York; or extinguish the 
lights therein, or be aiding or abetting in the 
same, or shall willfully break or deface any 
glass, window, porch, knocker, or other fix- 
ture in the said city, and shall be convicted 
thereof before the recorder, or before any 
city magistrate, either by the confession of 
the party or by the oath of one or more cred- 
ible witness or witnesses, he or she shall, 
for every such offense, pay a fine not ex- 
ceeding twenty-five dollars. Upon refusal of 
payment of such fine, it shall and may be 
lawful for such recorder or justice, before 
whom such conviction shall take place, to 
commit such offender to the penitentiary, 
there to remain until such fine and costs are 
paid; but not longer than, for the space of 
two months, and if any such offense shall 
be committed by any apprentice or servant, 
such forfeiture shall be paid by his or her 
master or mistress, or in default thereof, 
such apprentice or servant shall be com- 
mitted to such penitentiary in manner 
aforesaid. 

Detaining offender until name ascer- 
tained. 

Sec. 1,463. It shall and may be lawful to 
and for any sheriff, deputy sheriff, marshal, 
or member of the police force, who shall see 
any person commit any of the mischiefs or 
trespasses aforesaid, if such person or per- 
sons shall be unknown to such sheriff, depu- 
ty sheriff, marshal, or member of the police 
force, to seize, secure and detain such of- 
fender so unknown to him as aforesaid, until 
he can discover the name of such offender. 


or until the next .morning (if the offense 
shall be committed in the night time and the 
offender shall refuse to discover his or her 
name), when such offender shall be brought 
before the recorder or one of the police jus- 
tices or city magistrates, who, on conviction 
of such offender shall proceed against bim or 
her In the manner hereinbefore directed; 
and further, in case any person shall com- 
mit any or either of the offenses aforesaid 
in the presence of such sheriff, deputy 
sheriff, marshal, or member of the police 
force, then every such sheriff, deputy sheriff, 
marshal, or member of the police force shall 
forthwith give information thereof to such 
recorder or cither of the police justices or 
city magistrates, in order that such offender 
may be convicted thereof and punished. 

Preceding sections no bar to suit by 

persons injured. 

Sec. 1,464. Neither the two preceding sec- 
tions, nor anything therein contained, shall 
bar or preclude any person or persons from 
recovering his, her or their damages against 
any other person or persons who shall be 
guilty of any of the mischiefs or trespasses 
aforesaid, but the same may be recovered in 
the same manner as if they had never been 
passed. 

Informer relieved of penalty, etc. 

Sec. 1,465. If two or more persons shall 
have been Jointly concerned in committing 
any of the offenses aforesaid, and one or 
more of them (not being before informed 
against) shall within the space of one month 
after the offense committed, inform against 
any or all of the other or others concerned in 
the same offense so as to convict him, her or 
them, the person so informing shall not be 
liable to the payment of the fine hereinbe- 
fore mentioned. 

Definition of “street.” 

Sec. 1,466. Whenever the word “street” or 
the plural thereof occurs in this chapter, it 
shall be deemed to include, unless otherwise 
expressly stated, all that is included by the 
terms "street, avenue, road, alley, lane, 
highway boulevard, concourse, public square 
and public place,” or the plurals thereof, re- 
spectively. 


AMUSEMENTS. 


Public exhibitions to be licensed. 

Sec. 1,472. It shall not be lawful to exhibit 
to the public in any building, garden or 
grounds, concert room or other place or room 
within the city of New York, any interlude, 
tragedy, comedy, opera, ballet, play, farce, 
minstrelsy or dancing, or any other enter- 
tainment of the stage, or. any part or parts 
therein, or any equestrian, circus or dra- 
matic performance, or any performance of 
Jugglers, or rope dancing, or .acrobats, until 
a license for the place of such exhibition for 
such purpose shall have been first had and 
obtained, as hereinafter provided. 

Police department grants license; fee; 

pennlty for neglect to obtain license. 

Sec. 1,473. The police department is here- 
by authorized and empowered to grant such 
license, to continue in force until the first 
day of May next ensuing the grant thereof, 
on receiving for each license so granted, and 
before the issuing thereof, the sum of five 
hundred dollars; and every manager or pro- 
prietor of any such exhibition or perform- 
ance who shall neglect to take out such li- 
cense, or oonsent, or cause, or allow any such 
exhibition or performance, or any siaclfi 


168 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


one of them without such license, au:l every 
person aiding in such exhibition, and every 
owner or lessee of any building, part of a 
building, garden, grounds, concert room or 
other room or place, who shall lease or let 
the same for the purpose of any such exhibi- 
tion or performance, or assent that the same 
be used for any such purpose, except as per- 
mitted by such license, and without such li- 
cense having been previously obtained and 
then in force if the same shall be used for 
such purpose, shall be subject to a penalty of 
$100 for every such exhibition or perform- 
ance, which penalty shall be prosecuted, sued 
for and recovered in the name of The City of 
New York, and shall be paid to the cham- 
berlain of The City of New York, to be paid 
into the treasury of ‘said city. 

Commutation of license fee. 

Sec. 1,474. The said police department is 
hereby authorized to grant licenses for said 
exhibitions or performances for any term less 
than one year, and in any case where such 
license is for a term of three moafhs or less, 
the said police department is hereby author- 
ized to commute for a sum less than $500, 
but in no case less than $250 for a theater or 
$150 for a circus, concert room or other 
building or place whatsoever. 

Fees to be paid over to comptroller. 

Sec. 1,475. Upon granting every such license 
authorized by this title, the said police de- 
partment shall receive from the person to 
whom the same shall be granted the amount 
payable for said license, as above provided, 
which amounts a3 respectively received by 
it shall be paid over to the comptroller of 
The City of New York, to be paid into the 
treasury of said city. 

Revocation of license. 

Sec. 1,476. Any license provided for by the 
preceding sections may be revoked and an- 
nulled by any Judge or Justice of any court of 
record in said city upon proof of a violation 
of any of the provisions of this title; such 
proof shall be taken before such Judge or 
Justice, upon notice of not less than two days 
to show cause why such license should not be 
revoked; said Judge or Justice shall hear the 
proofs and allegations in the case and deter- 
mine the same summarily; and no appeal 
shall be taken from such determination; and 
»nv tjerjson whose license shall have been re- 
voked or annulled shall not thereafter be en- 
titled to a license under the provisions of 
said sections; on any examination before an 
officer, pursuant to a notice to show cause as 
aforesaid, the accused party may be a wit- 
ness in his own behalf. 

Penalty for violating; provisions of this 

title. 

Sec. 1,477. Any person violating any of the 
provisions of sections 1,472 and 1,473 of this 
act shall be de.emed guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon conviction shall be punished by 
imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term 
not less than three months nor more than 
one year, or by a fine not less than $100 nor 
more than $500, or by both such fine and im- 
prisonment. 

Police, etc., to arrest offenders. 

Sec. 1,478. It shall be the duty of every 
sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable and of every 
member of the police force to enter at any 
time said places of amusement and to arrest 
and convey any person or persons violating 
any provisions of sections 1,472 and 1,47.1 oi 
this act, forthwith, before any city magis- 
trate or recorder having Jurisdiction in said 
city, there to be dealt with according to law. 


Corporation Counsel may enjoin exhi- 

hibitions without license. 

Sec. 1,479. In case any person shall open 
or advertise to open any theater, circus or 
building, garden or ground, concert room or 
other place for any such exhibition or per- 
formance in said city, referred to in section 
fourteen hundred and seventy-two of this act 
without first having obtained a license there- 
for, as provided for by section fourteen hun- 
dred and seventy-three of this act, it shall 
and may be lawful for the corporation coun- 
sel of The City of New York to apply to the 
supreme court, or any Justice thereof, for an 
injunction to restrain the opening thereof 
until he shall have complied with the requi- 
sites of said section in obtaining such license 
and also with such order as to costs as 
such court or Justice may deem Just and 
proper to make, which injunction may be 
allowed upon a complaint to be in the name 
of The City of New York in the same man- 
ner as injunctions are now usually allowed 
by the practice of said court. Any injunc- 
tion allowed under this section may be 
served by posting the same upon the outer 
door of the theater or circus or building 
wherein such exhibitions may be proposed to 
be held, or if the same shall be in a garden 
or grounds, then by posting the same at or 
on or near the entrance way to any such 
place of exhibition; and in case of any pro- 
ceeding against the manager or proprietor 
of any such theater, circus, or building, or 
garden or grounds, as aforesaid, it shall not 
be necessary to prove the personal service 
of the injunction, but the service hereinbe- 
fore provided shall be deemed and held suffi - 
cient. 

Preceding sections not applicable to 

certain performances. 

Sec. 1,480. The provisions and require- 
ments of sections fourteen hundred and sev- 
enty-two to fourteen hundred and seventy- 
nine of this act, inclusive, shall not be held 
to apply to any building, hall, room or 
rooms, in which only private theatricals, 
tableaus and other exhibitions for charitable 
and religious purposes are given, nor to the 
manager or managers of exhibitions given by 
amateurs for the benefit of any church, mis- 
sion. parish or Sunday school, or for any 
other charitable or religious purpose, nor 
shall the same be held to apply to the ma- 
sonic temple in New York, or the trustees of 
the masonic hall and asylum fund, so long 
as the revenues of said temple shall con- 
tinue to be applied to the use of the masonic 
hall and asylum, or other charitable purpose, 
nor to the educational alliance, or to the di- 
rectors or officers of said society as such 
with respect to any building which shall in 
whole or in part be owned or leased, by said 
society, while so owned or leased so long as 
the revenue thereof shall continue to be ap- 
plied to the support of said society and to the 
'religious, charitable, social, educational or 
literary purposes of said society. 
Exhibitions on Sundays prohibited. 

Sec. 1,481. It shall not be lawful to ex- 
hibit, on the first day of the week, commonly 
called Sunday, to the public, in any building, 
garden, grounds, concert room or other room 
or place within The City of New York, any 
interlude, tragedy, comedy, opera, ballet, 
play, farce, negro minstrelsy, negr® or other 
dancing, or any other entertainment of the 
stage, or any part or parts therein, or any 
equestrian, circus, or dramatic performance, 
or any performance of Jugglers, acrobats, or 
rope dancing. Any person offending against 


the provisions of this section, and every 
person aiding in such exhibitions by adver- 
tisements or other wise, and every owner or 
lessee of any building, part of a building, 
ground, garden, or concert room, or other 
room or place, who shall lease or let out the 
sa^me for the purpose of any such exhibition 
or performance, or assent that the same be 
used for any such purpose, shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor, and in addition to punish- 
ment therefor provided by law, shall be sub- 
ject to a penalty of five hundred dollars, 
which penalty the corporation counsel of 
said city is hereby authorized in the 
name of The City of New York to prose- 
cute, sue for and recover; in addition 
to which every such exhibition or perform- 
ance shall of itself forfeit, vacate and annul 
and render void and of no effect any license 
which shall have been previously obtained 
by any manager, proprietor, owner or lessee 
consenting to, causing or allowing, or let- 
ting any part of a building for the purpose 
of any such exhibition or performance. 

Minors nnder fourteen unaccompanied 

by adnlt not to be admitted to thea- 
ters at nig'lit. 

Sec. 1,482. It shall not be lawful for any 
owner, lessee, manager, agent or officer of 
any theater in the city of New York to admit 
to any theatrical exhibition held in the even- 
ing any minor under the age of fourteen 
years, unless such minor is accompanied by, 
and is in the care of some adult person. Any 
person violating the provisions of this sec- 
tion shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
shall be liable to a fine of not less than $25, 
nor more than $100, or imprisonment for a 
term not less than ten nor more than ninety 
days for each offense. All money recovered 
under the provisions of this section, for fines 
shall be paid over to the comptroller of said 
city, to be paid into the treasury of said city. 

Prohibition of sale of spirituous liq- 
uors and employment of fensale wait- 
ers. 

Sec. 1,483. It shall not be lawful to sell or 
furnish any wine, beer or strong or spiritu- 
ous liquors, to any person in the auditorium 
or lobbies of any place of exhibition or per- 
formance mentioned in section one thousand 
four hundred and seventy-two of this act, or 
in any apartment connected therewith by any 
door, window, or other aperture, except that 
the police department may, in its discretion, 
and subject to such regulations and restric- 
tions as it may determine, permit the same 
to be sold or furnished while concerts, con- 
sisting of vocal or Instrumental music only, 
are being given in a place duly licensed by it 
as hereinbefore provided. Such permission 
shall only be operative so long as it shall be 
lawful under the laws of this state to sell or 
furnish wine, beer, or strong or spirituous 
liquors at such place, and may be revoked at 
any time by the police department. It shall 
not be lawful to employ or furnish or permit 
or assent to the employment or attendance 
of any female to wait on, or attend in any 
manner, or furnish refreshments to the au- 
dience or spectators or any of them, at any 
of the exhibitions or performances men- 
tioned in said section, or at any other place 
of public amusement in The City of New 
York. 

The provisions of this act shall not be 
construed to interfere with the right of any 
incorporated or other society, organized and 
maintained for the cultivation of vocal or 
Instrumental music, to exercise and practice 
the same in good faith for themselves only, 
and not fOfr the observation and entertain- 


THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


169 


■i8P3 




inent of the public; nor shall the use or oc- 
cupation by any such society for the pur- 
poses aforesaid of any hall or room con- 
nected with any place wherein by the laws 
of this state it is lawful to sell wine, beer, 
or strong or spirituous liquors be construed 
to make such place a place of public amuse- 
ment within the provisions of this act. 

Violation of preceding; section annuls 

license. 

Sec. 1,484. No license shall be granted for 
any exhibition or performance given in viola- 
tion of the preceding section, and any and 
every exhibition or performance at which 
any of the provisions of the said section 
shall be violated, shall of itself vacate and 
annul and render void and of no effect any 
license which shall have been previously ob- 
tained by any manager, proprietor, owner or 
lessee consenting to, causing or allowing or 
letting any part of a building for the pur- 
pose of such exhibition and performance. 


Violation of any provision of the two 
preceding; sections a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 1,485. Any person violating any of the 
provisions of the two preceding sections, or 
employing, or assenting to the employment 
or attendance of any person contrary to the 
provisions of said sections, shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon convic- 
tion shall be punished by imprisonment in 
the penitentiary for a term not less than 
three months, nor more than one year, or by 
a fine not less than $100 nor more than $500, 
or by both such fine and imprisonment. 

Police, etc., to enter places of amuse- 
ment and arrest offenders. 

Sec. 1,486. It shall be the duty of the 
sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable and of every 
member of the police force to enter at any 
time said places of amusement, and to arrest 
and convey any person or persons violating 
any prevision of the three preceding sec- 
tions, forthwith, before any city magistrate 
or recorder having Jurisdiction in said city, 
there to be dealt with according to law. 


Doors and exits to be conspicuously 
numbered. Diagrams to be printed 
on programmes. 

Sec. 1,487. The owner, lessee, manager, or 
other person, or persons, having charge or 
control of any theater shall cause each and 
every door and means of exit to be used in 
case of fire or panic, to be conspicuously 
numbered so as to be visible to the audience, 
by whom the same may be used, and shall 
have or cause to be printed in conspicuous 
type a plan or diagram and explanation 
showing each of said exits thereon, and re- 
ferring to the numbers aforesaid, and the 
same shall be printed in conspicuous type, as 
aforesaid, on the programme or bill of the 
play. Any and all persons who shall violate 
any of the provisions of this section, or fall 
to comply therewith, or any requirement 
thereof, shall severally, for each and every 
violation and non-compliance, respectively 
forfeit and pay a penalty in the sum of $50; 
to be' sued for and recovered in the same 
mannef as violations of the building laws in 
the City of New York are now sued for and 
recovered pursuant to the provisions of this 
act. 


The City of New York. 


According to the latest sources of infor- 
mation the population of the City of New 
York is 3,682,159; its area in acres, 209,218, 
and in square miles, 326.90. The boroughs 
constituting the city and making up the fore- 
going items are presented as follows: 


Estimate Area Area 

population In In 

Boroughs. of 1903. acres, sq. miles. 

Manhattan ........ 1,906,551 14,038 21.93 

Brooklyn 1,270,450 49,680 77.62 

Bronx ••...•• 255.955 26,017 40.65 

Queens 177.532 82,883 129.51 

Richmond 71,671 36,600 57.19 


MISCELLANEOUS STATISTICS. 

Net bonded debt, November 1. 1902 3334,683,316 

Total assessed value of public property.. 663,911,704 

Annual expenditure (budget 1906) 97,119,031 

Dally water supply (gallons) 459.500,000 

Assessed value of property (real)) 3,330,647,579 

Assessed value of property (personal).. 526,400,139 

Parks and open spaces (acres) 6,762 

Cemeteries (a,«T*) 3,155 

Miles of unpaved streets 768 

Miles of paved streets .. 1,765 

Miles of water front 353 

Mlle9 of sewers 1,557 

Miles of street railway (single track)*.. 1,231 


•Including elevated roads. 


THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

The annual report of the city superintend- 
ent of schools for 1902 furnishes the follow- 
ing facts as to the public schools: 


Net En- 
rollment On Average 
Boroughs. of Pupils. Register. Attend. 

Manhattan and Bronx. 342.035 285,406 244,426 

Brooklyn .197,188 171,914 143,427 

Queens 37,361 29,095 24,151 

Richmond 12,030 10,584 8,476 


Total 588,614 496,999 420,480 


The average register for the school year 
was as follows: 


Boroughs. 

High 

Schools. 

Elementary 

Schools. 

Kinder- 

gartens. 

Average regis- 
ter 

Per cent, of 
whole number 

Average regis- 
ter 

Per cent, of 
whole number 

Average regis- 
ter 

Per cent, of 
whole number 

Manhattanand 







the Bronx . . 

6.686 

2.5 

251,540 

96.3 

2,931 

1.2 

Brooklyn 

6,914 

4.3 

151,817 

94.3 

2,301 

1.4 

Queens 

1.124 

4.1 

25,012 

92.2 

980 

3.7 

Richmond .... 

461 

4.6 

9,285 

93.6 

179 

1.8 

Total 

15, 185 

3.3 

437,654 

95.3 

6,391 

1.4 


The working force of the school system Is 


expressed by the figures 
table: 

In 

the following 

Office. 

Men. 

Women. 

Total. 

Superintendents 

33 

2 

35 

Directors of special branches 
Special teachers of special 

7 

1 

15 

branches 

85 

208 

293 

High school principals 

10 

«... 

10 

Elementary tfcbool principals 
Assistants, not teaching In, 

186 

225 

411 

elementary schools 

4 

219 

223 

Training school principals.... 

2 

.... 

t 

Training school teachers .... 

6 

37 

43 

High school teachers 

2S4 

346 

630 

Elementary school teachers.. 

617 

9,564 

10,181 

Klndergartners 


226 

226 

Total 

1,234 

10,835 

12,069 


The amount of money provided for the De- 
partment of Education, according, to the 
budget for 1903, was as follows: 


For special school fund: 

Board of Education $1,405,577.03 

Manhattan 1,365,805.36 

Bronx 275,789.69 

Brooklyn 964,767.40 

Queens 279,407.62 

Richmond 119,787.18 


Total $1,411,134.28 

General school fund . 15,651,883.49 

College of the City of New York 298,362.00 

Normal College 220,000.00 


Philosophy of the Charter and of Charter Making. 


Lecture by 


The Hon. William C. DeWitt, who was 
chairman of the committee that drafted the 
first charter of Greater New York for the 
first commission, and who was also a mem- 
ber of the second commission, who furnished 
the present charter, on Thursday evening. 
May 20, 1S97, delivered a lecture in which 
the philosophy of the charter and of charter 
making was ably set forth. The lecture 
was as follows: 

In designing a governmental system for a 
city of 3,000,000 people, the constitution of the 
United States naturally occupied a conspicu- 
ous place among the models to be consulted. 
The rare combination of powers grouped in 
one republic, the exquisite welding of states 
sovereign over their domestic affairs, and, in 
turn, made up of towns, villages, cities and 
counties, each enjoying an adequate measure 
of home rule, into an indissoluble union 
under a supreme federal authority, have 
rendered the Constitution of our country the 
most perfect fabric of civil society the world 
has yet seen. No higher tribute to the or- 
ganic principle upon which it was construct- 
ed could be had than that which is presented 
in the modern politics of England, where, 
under the doctrine of home rule, it is pro- 
posed to assimilate the British empire to 
our federal union. It is a principle enforced 
by all experience. The map of Europe is now 
as variegated as the face of a checker-board, 
with different kingdoms and countries, al- 
though In the fourth century Europe was 
wholly under one dominion, and we thus 
know from history that progress has every- 
where exacted at the hands of imperialism 
a division of domain and a distribution of 
power. Undivided and unbalanced central- 
ism is incompatible with civilization. 

The advent and growth of municipalities 
mark the intellectual progress of England, 
and her statesmen may well boast of the fact 
that if Parliament were dissolved and the 
King driven into exile, there would still 
remain in the municipalities — the towns, vil- 
lages, cities and counties of the realm — suf- 
ficient power to protect the lives, property 
and prosperity of the English people. The 
same sentiment characterized the New Eng- 
land of the Pilgrims in their devotion even 
to the school district as a cradle of liberty. 
Ary governmental system, therefore, to be 
agreeable to the genius of our institutions, 
should yield to each distinctive community 
an appropriate measure of home rule, while 
consolidating it into a common association, 
however large, ■whether imperial or repub- 
lican. This organic principle by which large 
slates are made up of small states — im- 
perium in imperio — wheels within a wheel, 
sustaining and not conflicting; a galaxy, not 
a solid; each orb moving in its sphere, yet 
all revolving around a central sun — is quite 
as appropriate to the organization of great 
cities and is just as indispensable to a 
proper distribution of their municipal powers 
as it is to states. It is not an appurtenant 
to land. It is an attribute to liberty. It 


the Hon. William C. De Witt. 


was not made applicable to any city, by the 
master builders of our republic, because 
there was no great city in the country when 
the Constitution was formed. While the 
authors of the Constitution took their in- 
spiration from the system of states then 
existing and the spirit of community inde- 
pendence which had been the mainspring of 
the Revolution, they knew quite w'ell that 
these things had their origin in a race which 
had fewer acres than great men. From the 
Amphictyonic league, which was a league of 
states, to the Achaen league, which was a 
league of cities, the federative principle 
governed and characterized the political 
philosophy and institutions of the Greeks. 
And it Is easy to discern, especially from 
the papers of Madison, that the American 
system remotely took its rise on those 
classic heights. 

Divisions of London and Paris. 

Beside the theory of aggregation rather 
than unification has been enforced in the ac- 
tual development of the present great cities 
of the world. ‘‘As modified by the act of 
1855. the government of London, within what 
is known as the metropolitan area, consisted 
of the city corporation the metropolitan 
board of works and thirty-eight vestries and 
district boards.” Paris is divided into twenty 
arrondissements, with four subdivisions. 
Each of these arrondissements has a mayor 
and has local rights and powers for local pur- 
poses. New York has already found it need- 
ful to give the trans-Harlem a separate ad- 
ministration of public works. At one time 
the horses engaged in street cleaning were 
stabled so far away from some parts of the 
city that it took them at times half a day 
to go and come from the locality where they 
were needed for the work in hand. 

It would be to fly in the face of all experi- 
ence to attempt to unify all the municipali- 
ties which are to constitute Greater New 
York under an imperial system, having no 
regard for the autonomy, the rights or the 
local interests of the various communities. It 
would be to adopt the systems of Asia and 
to return to the dark ages. 

In 1881 I drafted a plan for the consolida- 
tion of the municipalities lying about the 
harbor of New York within the boundaries 
of this state, on what is now known as the 
borough system, and I have advocated it 
strenuously ever since. It was enforced upon 
me by the principles and examples I have 
crudely stated, and it has been a great satis- 
faction to have it approved by all who have 
given careful study to the subject. 

It is interesting to note that the present 
movement for the municipal reform and uni- 
fication of London arose from an effort in 
Parliament to reorganize the towns of Eng- 
land, it being by common consent among the 
statesmen of the country assumed that these 
minor divisions are to be recognized in sub- 
stance as well in the urban as in the rural 
sections of the realm. 

In the report of the royal commission of 


1894, appointed “to recommend a scheme for 
the complete municipal unity of the metrop- 
olis," etc., we find the following trenchant 
statements: 

“A consideration of the evidence we have 
received confirms the opinion suggested by 
the course of previous inquiries and in legis- 
lation, or, in other words, of the historic de- 
velopment of the metropolis, that the gov- 
ernment of London must be intrusted to one 
body exercising certain functions throughout 
all the areas covered by the same, and to 
a number of local bodies exercising certain 
other functions within the local areas which 
collectively make up London.” * » * “We 
are in all cases dealing with areas which 
possess the characteristics of town life, and 
the organization of their joint and several 
governments should be settled accordingly. 
London, we repeat, is one large town, which 
for convenience of administration as well as 
from local diversities, comprises within itself 
several smaller towns, and the application of 
the principles, and still more of the machin- 
ery of the municipal government, to these 
several areas must be limited by conditions 
arising from this fact." 

Necessity for a Central Governing Body. 

Again, “it has grow r n into so general an 
acceptance that all the witnesses before us, 
we believe, without exception, concur in 
recognizing the necessity for the existence 
of a central body exercising functions com- 
mon to London as a whole, and of local 
bodies exercising functions restricted to 
their localities. Many witnesses have urged 
the propriety of establishing some personal 
connection between the local governing 
bodies and the central authority of the 
metropolis, and we concur in thinking this 
desirable, but we believe it could be best 
secured by making, where the areas are 
conterminous, the members of the central 
board elected for any district ex-officio mem- 
bers of the local governing body of the 
district. 

“We believe the same friendly reception 
would be generally experienced, and the 
reorganization of the old city affords an 
opportunity of introducing an element which 
would bring the corporation of the whole 
city into touch w'ith the councils of Its com- 
ponent parts.” 

It may be assumed from the article by 
the Lord Mayor of London, published in the 
North American Review for October, 1894, 
that there is a common concurrence of the 
leading minds of England on this plan of 
consolidation — notably of Lord Rosebery and 
Sir William Harcourt, consolidationists, on 
the one hand, and of Lord Salisbury, Mr. 
Chamberlain, Arthur James Balfour and 
Professor Goldwin Smith, “following men 
like Sir George Cornwall Lewis, Sir George 
Grey and John Stuart Mill, on the other 
hand.” 

The principle thus presented ought to be 
familiar to every American citizen. It is none 
other than that doctrine of community rights 


rniLosorHY of the charter and of charter making. 


171 


lying at the source of American institutions 
and evinced in all its manifold forms — towns, 
villages, cities, counties — from the old school 
districts of New England to the states united 
under th'e federal constitution. It is that 
fundamental axiom which teaches us in all 
forms of government, while effectuating cen- 
tral and supreme power and general unity, 
to preserve and develop the humbler, but 
not less sacred, rights of man in his closer 
and more familiar relations. 

Boroughs of Nature’s Own Forming. 

Proceeding upon the principle thus outlined 
and exemplified, the Greater New York char- 
ter divides the city into the five boroughs 
which nature and history had already formed; 
that is to say: 

(1) Manhattan, consisting of the island of 
Manhattan and the outlying Islands naturally 
related to It. 

(2) The Bronx, that is to say, all that part 
of the present city of New York lying north 
of the Harlem, a territory which comprises 
two-thirds of the area of the present city of 
New York. 

(3) Brooklyn. 

(4) Queens, consisting of that portion of 
Queens county to be incorporated into the 
Greater New York. 

(5) Richmond, that is, Staten Island. 

Power is given to the municipal assembly 

to subdivide these boroughs still further, in 
case of need. But Greater New York will 
start with these five grand divisions. 

The need and the propriety of these divi- 
sions for administrative work will not be 
gainsaid by any enlightened man. We have 
In Mr. Joseph Chamberlain the highest au- 
thority for the statement that a population 
of one-half a million is practically the largest 
number that can be governed administra- 
tively from one center with the individual 
attention and constant assiduity that have 
contributed so much to the usefulness and 
popularity of corporation work. It needs only 
common knowledge and perception to under- 
stand that all the administrative business of 
Greater New York could not be transacted 
from one city hall, with any regard for the 
convenience of the people or for the expedi- 
tion of public business. The striking prog- 
ress in the efforts of government to bring 
Its service nearer to the homes of the people 
required like effort on the part of the charter 
makers. To ask the residents of Jamaica, 
Flatbush and Staten Island to transact all 
their business with the city at the New York 
city hall alone would be no less ridiculous 
than to compel them to mall all their letters 
In the New York post office. We have a let- 
ter box on every corner, and nobody has sug- 
gested that this distributive system has 
tended to the disintegration of the postal de- 
partment. I remember that while riding along 
the borders of a British lake, upon coming to 
a point where the water had flooded and ex- 
cavated the roadway so as to cause much in- 
convenience to the coach, I said to the driver, 
‘‘Why do you not have that repaired?" He re- 
plied, “We have been trying to do it for fif- 
teen years.” I said I thought it might be 
done in fifteen hours, at which he exclaimed, 
“Great heavens, man, we have to get an act 
of Parliament.” As the city grows in popula- 
tion how doubly absurd it would be, for exam- 
ple, if all of the five millions of people seek- 
ing local improvements, wishing to pay their 
taxes, or to have their water pipes repaired, 
or desiring any of the multitudinous acts or 
attentions of the administrative or legislative 
departments, were obliged to go to one cen- 
ter. In addition to the neglect from which 
unfavr.rel sections wovl 1 suffer, von wcu’d 


have In such a central body the ma- 
chinery and opportunities for misrule, ex- 
travagance and corruption frightful to con- 
template. Common sense dictated the plan 
of aggregation rather than unification as in- 
dispensable to honest and expeditious ad- 
ministration. 

Rivalry of Boroughs Will Tend Toward 
Better Government. 

Beside, it is a vulgar error to assume that 
only material and pecuniary interests are to 
be considered In the construction of a muni- 
cipality. The civic pride of the people and 
the rivalry of sections will be potential fac- 
tors in the election of good officers and in 
the maintenance of honest rule. Each of the 
five grand boroughs has an autonomy and 
history of its own. I speak for Brooklyn 
when I say that the citizens will linger with 
patriotic affection upon the memories of her 
past, and will enforce with unflinching en- 
ergy the promises of her future. 

To foster this spirit of rivalry the charter 
wisely provides that each of the boroughs 
shall have a president elected by its own 
people. He shall sit in the office of the pres- 
ent mayor, surrounded by the administrative 
officers of the consolidated city. He will bo 
on guard and on the lookout for the inter- 
ests of his borough. In his person the spirit 
of the old city will survive, though blended 
into a grander association. 

In further development of the borough sys- 
tem Greater New York is divided into twen- 
ty-two districts, corresponding to the exist- 
ing senatorial districts, in each of which will 
be a local board. Nicely, the term “bor- 
ough” -would, from a literary standpoint, ap- 
ply more aptly to these districts than to 
the larger divisions, which might have been 
called departments. But in a combat for 
great essentials it is not always wise to 
quarrel over words. The local boards will 
hold their meetings at the city hall of the 
borough, whose president will preside over 
them. 

Each local board may take the Initiative 
In all local improvements, primary in char- 
acter, the cost of which is to be paid by 
assessment on abutting property. These are 
the opening, grading, paving of streets and 
the like. As already suggested, so numer- 
ous are these primary improvements, and so 
rapidly do they accumulate in a vast and 
growing city, that they could not be attended 
to in Greater New York from one central 
body "with the individual attention and con- 
stant assiduity that have contributed so 
much to the usefulness and popularity of cor- 
poration work.” Unfavored sections, too, 
would be neglected. A property owner In 
one end of Greater New York will be the 
natural competitor against a property owner 
at the other end. since he will desire the de- 
velopment and improvement of his property 
in preference to that of his distant fellow 
citizen. Beside, under the system of local 
boards, the work is initiated and conducted 
immediately under the eyes of those who are 
to bear the burden, and whose self-interest 
will prompt them to spy out bad contracts 
and corrupt and unwarranted assessments. 

Supervisory Duty of Beneficial Results. 

Again, the members of the local boards are 
charged with the duty of furthering good or- 
der. peace, good morals and good government 
in the neighborhood of their district— not by 
vesting them with any separate or controlling 
power over these subjects, but to such an 
extent that they may aid the police, the judi- 
ciary, the officers of charity or of the street 
'Ippnrtrrnil. by calling their attention to 


whatever requires their action. This moral 
or supervisory duty, in aid and in reminder of 
public officers, lias proven of great benefit in 
foreign cities, where the system is carried to 
a much further extent than that adopted in 
the charter. 

It is not difficult for the wealthy or the in- 
fluential to make their grievances heard and 
appreciated, but in a city of many millions 
the obscure citizen, who might never be 
heard, either in the municipal assembly or 
at the administrative department, can at 
least make known his wants or his wrongs 
to the neighborhood member of his local 
board, and the duty and ambition of that 
member will be pledged to help the lowly 
and to advance the good government of his 
constituents. Should the members of any 
local board prove derelict in these agencies" 
the duty and dominion of the general gov- 
ernment will remain all the same, and hence 
the general system cannot in any event be 
impaired; but the action and the dominion 
.of the general government will be greatly 
aided and enlarged where the members of 
the local boards are alert in the interests 
of their localities. 

I have thus described at the outset the 
division of domain and the distribution of 
power incidental to that division contained 
in the charter. I submit that it is in keep- 
ing with the teachings of history and the 
philosophy of our civilization. The civil 
laws and the fabrics of government, arising 
from the experience of mankind, follow a 
line of consistent progress, involving a sur- 
vival of the fittest and indicative of a single 
source, just as plainly as do the physical laws 
and advancing species of our race, and I have 
no doubt that the* system we have con- 
structed in the light of experience, although 
complex in design, will adapt itself to every 
want of the vast multitude and to every im- 
pulse of the imperial city and will, in prac- 
tice, operate with simplicity and harmony. 

When consolidation was first impending our 
foremost citizens apprehended that Brooklyn 
was on the verge of a precipice; that her 
autonomy was to be destroyed; that her name 
and traditions were to be lost; that she was 
to be amalgamated with the City of New York 
and governed by one mayor and one common 
council, after the fashion of the notorious 
days in the history of our neighboring city. 

Brooklyn Greater as a Borough Than as 
a City. 

The protracted labors of the commission 
are over and the charter has become a law. 
Brooklyn will be greater as a borough than 
she is as a city. She will be the grandest 
the five divisions of the imperial metropolis. 
Her area will be 65% square miles. That of 
Manhattan will be 21 square miles. Her pop- 
ulation is already 1,400,000; that of Manhat- 
tan 1,743,000. 

It is easy to foresee the ultimate and per- 
manent supremacy of Brooklyn. 

Brooklyn by the charter is given her own 
school moneys and school system; her own 
park moneys and a park commissioner with 
exclusive administrative jurisdiction on this 
side of the river. She has her own charity 
moneys and her own charity commissioner, 
with like exclusive jurisdiction. As I have 
already stated, all the administrative offices 
are seated here, although the chief head is 
located in Manhattan. 

Brooklyn will no longer bear a dispropor- 
tionate share of the taxes collected for the 
education of the young, the protection of 
persons or of property, or of any of the other 
•'bjeets pr pu-poses of municipal gove-nment. 


172 


PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHARTER AND OF CHARTER MAKING. 


which common fairness and justice require 
should be borne with absolute equality 
throughout the whole domain of the metro- 
politan community, dwelling about this har- 
bor, however hitherto divided, either by the 
laws of nature or the laws of man. 

By the enforced surrender of her system of 
collecting annual taxes in advance, and the 
substitution of the system of New York, which 
makes the collection at the end of the year, 
Brooklyn escapes all taxes in 1898, and there- 
by receives an ante-nuptial present of $15,- 
000,000. No wonder the people of Brooklyn 
are unanimous in support of the charter, 
and yet I positively declare and affirm that 
nothing has been acorded to the borough of 
Brooklyn to which she is not absolutely en- 
titled in fairness and justice. The charter 
has been drawn with impartial fidelity to the 
supreme municipality which it creates, and I 
challenge any man to point out a single in- 
stance of favor or partiality shown on any 
page toward one borough in preference to 
another. I desire right here to state that the 
substitution of the system of collecting as- 
sessments for local improvements after they 
are made for the Brooklyn system, which 
provides for a payment in advance and abso- 
lute security before the city issues a single 
bond, was forced through the commission 
by the mayor and corporation counsel of 
New York against my most earnest and per- 
sistent opposition. 

The question now arises, in what way are 
these divisions consolidated, and how are 
these local boards made one with the general 
system? The answer is easy. The body in- 
corporate includes all the boroughs. A com- 
mon mayor and common administrative de- 
partments govern the whole city, each depart- 
ment having officers in each borough; and the 
local boards are made up of the members of 
the municipal assembly, resident in the dis- 
trict. 

The new municipality is, in law, a body 
made up of many bodies and in constant 
touch with all its component parts. 

Municipal Independence Assured. 

In order that the city may enjoy municipal 
independence to the full extent attainable 
under the state constitution, the legislative 
body is intrusted with every legislative pow- 
er, known or conceivaDie, under the range of 
municipal jurisdiction. 

In like manner the mayor and the adminis- 
trative departments, the heads of which are 
appointed by him, are given a like unlimited 
measure of executive and administrative pow- 
ers. To perfect these grants under the strict 
rule of construction applicable thereto, the 
charters of all the respectable cities of mod- 
ern times were consulted and, with checks 
and balances needful to wise and careful 
government, nothing has been withheld from 
the new city, to which our alliegance was 
primarily due. The volume of powers granted 
ought to relieve the city from all need to 
have recourse to Albany to conduct its gov- 
ernment in the future. Tut: mayor and mu- 
isACfDal assembly represent the entire cor- 
poration are supreme over all its 

branches Here, then, is centralization and 
community rule in perfect accord. 

On fjst' final decision as to the formation of 
the legislative body, the commission was gov- 
erned by the example set by the constitu- 
tittwil convention of 1787. The colonial or 
confederate congress -of the revolutionary 
9 jefch consisted of a single chamber. It had 
£i*oven itself inefficient even in the exercise 
»f the limited powers with which it w r as 
Intrusted. 

Hamilton characterized a single chamber as 


“one of the most execrable forms of govern- 
ment that human infatuation ever contrived.” 

John Adams said: “Of all possible forms of 
government, a sovereignty in one assembly, 
successively chosen by the people, is, perhaps, 
the best calculated to facilitate the gratifica- 
tion of self-love and the pursuit of the private 
interests of a few individuals. Accordingly, 
we find in all the Italian republics the minor- 
ity always were driven to arms in despair.” * 

Franklin was equally opposed to a single 
chamber. Appeals to history -were made to 
show that it had been employed only In the 
Italian states, where it had been an instru- 
ment of extravagance and disorder, as in 
France, where it afterward proved the ready 
instrument of the authors and actors of the 
French revolution. 

It is not clear but that all the members of 
the convention shared even in the violence of 
opposition expressed in these quotations. At 
any rate, no one can deny that Judge Story 
has accurately stated the position in which 
every member concurred in respect to the 
legislative branch of the federal government 
under the Constitution. He says: “Under 
the confederation the whole legislative power 
•f the Union was vested in a single branch. 
Limited as was that power, the concentra- 
tion of it in a single body was deemed a 
prominent defect of the confederation. But, 
if a single assembly could properly be deemed 
a fit receptacle of the slender and fettered 
authorities confided to the federal govern- 
ment by that instrument it would scarcely 
be consistent with the principles of good 
government to intrust it with the more en- 
larged and vigorous powers delegated in the 
Constitution. 

The convention of 1787 was making a gov- 
ernment for three millions of people. The 
charter commission had an equal number 
with which to deal. 

Single Chamber Government Unsatis- 
factory. 

The single chamber, or Board of Aldermen, 
both in Brooklyn and in New York, had 
proven most unsatisfactory, even with the 
“slender and fettered authority” confided to 
it in the past; and it would have been Incon- 
sistent and foolhardy to intrust it with “the 
more enlarged and vigorous powers” dele- 
gated by the charter. 

The commission followed the example of 
a convention presided over by Washington, 
and of whose members, even during the ani- 
mosities of war. Lord Chatham .said: “For 
myself, I must declare and avow that in all 
my reading and observation, and history has 
been my favorite study (I have read Thucydi- 
des and have studied and admired the master 
statesmen of the world) for solidity of rea- 
soning force of sagacity and wisdom of con- 
clusion, under a complication of difficult cir- 
cumstances, no nation or body of men can 
stand in preference to the general Congress 
of Philadelphia.” 

If, however, the double chamber had had no 
such support in high authority, it would still 
have been indispensable from practical con- 
siderations. To make up the local boards of 
the various districts it was necessary that the 
legi^ative body should consist of the number 
of members provided by the charter for both 
houses. There are to be sixty aldermen and 
twenty-nine councilmen, making in all 
eighty-nine members of the municipal assem- 
bly. The highest authority exists in favor 
of a much larger number in the legislative 
branch of a city of such magnitude. With 
less it would have been impossible to rightly 
constitute the local boards. Even as it is. 
Richmond will have only three members of 


her local board, and in one of the Bronx dis- 
tricts tjiere will be only two members of that 
body. Beside, the members of the municipal 
assembly in each county are made the board 
of supervisors for that county to discharge 
those duties which are required by the con- 
stitution to be discharged by a board of 
supervisors. Under the prescribed number the 
board of supervisors of Richmond County 
will consist of only three members. It being 
thus indispensable that the members of the 
legislative body of the city should aggregate 
eighty-nine in number, what possible reason 
can be assigned in favor of seating them in 
one chamber instead of two? 

The Double House Imperatively Advis- 
able. 

On the other hand, how clear is the propo- 
sition that if the number is to be necessarily 
the same, the double house is imperatively 
advisable. You get a different constituency 
for each house; a different form and method 
of election; a different class of men; all the 
checks against hasty and inconsiderate legis- 
lation; more publicity and discussion upon 
each measure; and a more dignified body as 
a substitute for the legislature of the state, 
at no greater cost and by no larger intru- 
sion upon the jurisdiction of the co-ordinate 
| branches of the government. When, in addi- 
tion, it is considered that we have seated 
the heads of the departments on the floor of 
the board of aldermen and the ex-mayors on 
the floor of the council, it is at once apparent 
that the grander legislature has every ad- 
vantage and is open to no serious objection. 
It is worthy of notice that of all the critics 
of the bi-cameral system who have talked or 
written on the charter each one of them ap- 
pears in blissful ignorance of these facts, 
which are conclusive on the subject. 

As already suggested, the committee has 
assumed that the Greater New York must 
have a charter which will give the city all 
the powers that are necessary to conduct its 
own affairs. Having constructed an appro- 
priate legislative branch, I do not think we 
can have failed in allotting to this body 
every right, power and privilege which the 
history of cities and the conditions of Great- 
er New York suggest as needful to the enjoy- 
ment of self-government within appropriate 
limitations. We considered in this respect the 
constitutions of European and American 
cities, especially those of Paris, Berlin and 
Budapest, upon the continent; of Glasgow, 
Manchester, Birmingham and London, in 
Great Britain, and those of St. Louis, Brook- 
lyn and New York, in this country. We have 
conferred upon the municipal assembly legis- 
lative authority over every subject known 
to municipal jurisdiction. We gathered and 
preserved all the legislative powers hereto- 
fore vested in New York and Brooklyn, and, 
in addition, intrusted the new city with the 
original powers to build bridges or tunnels 
over or under the rivers within its domain; 
construct parks, school houses and public 
buildings, and generally to execute those 
higher and more expensive functions needful 
to meet the wants arising from the rapid 
growth of population and the advancing 
greatness of the metropolis. 

We have, however, respecting the mode of 
exercise of the powers of the Municipal As- 
sembly effected a radical and far reaching 
distinction between those powers which, in 
a judicial sense, are political, and those pow- 
ers which, in the same sense, are proprietary 
in character. 

Liberties of the Citizen Unrestrained. 

As to everything couching the rights, 
privileges and liberties of ffle citizen, the 


PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHARTER AND OF CHARTER MAKING. 


173 


legislative body is subject to no restraint: 
But in respect to the large and costly range 
of works and properties comprised in the gen- 
eral term “public improvements” we have de- 
termined that the initiative, in each case, shall 
be with the board of public improvements, 
and other appropriate departments, and that 
the action of the Municipal Assembly shall 
be also subjected to the concurrence of the 
Commissioners of Estimate and Apportion- 
ment. When the multitude and magnitude of 
the public works and properties of the Great- 
er New York at present and in the future are 
duly considered — the» bridges over the East 
River and the Harlem River, the Croton and 
the Ridgewood water works, Central Park 
and Prospect Park and the other parks, 
boulevards and driveways, the number of 
streets and avenues paved or to be paved, or 
to be repaired and repaved; the vast extent 
of the sewer system, etc. — it is quite obvious 
that these works should be primarily con- 
trolled by expert and administrative author- 
ity, so that they may be developed and dis- 
tributed upon a fixed plan yielding the great- 
est service to the city as a W'hole, producing 
co-operative uniformity, and should be de- 
signed and constructed obediently to the 
highest attainable scientific agencies. For 
this reason we thought that in the institution 
of new works or properties of the character 
described, or in the development of such as 
may be old, the action of the municipal cor- 
poration, on its proprietary side, should 
originate with the Board of Public Improve- 
ments or administrative department: From 
a like consideration of the enormous outlay 
of money to be constantly required by the 
municipal corporation in its capacity as pro- 
prietor, we thought that the action of the 
Municipal Assembly should be dependent 
upon the concurrence of the Commissioners 
of Estimate and Apportionment, who should 
be always familiar with the volume of tax- 
ation and the extent of the city debt, and 
whose highest function^ it will be to guard 
the solvency of the corporation and to light- 
en the burdens of taxation. These checks 
and safeguards against extravagance and 
corruption cannot be overcome in the inter- 
est of jobbery or peculation until each de- 
partment has become venal and our people 
lost to all sense of public honor. 

Nor are these checks in any degree an 
abridgment of the sovereignty of the people. 
The oflicers of the executive and administra- 
tive branches of government spring no less 
from the- people than the members of the 
' Legislature, and it is, therefore, in princi- 
ple, merely a question as to which method 
Will be most conducive to economical and 
honest government. These are the only re- 
straints apart from the veto power placed on 
the Municipal Assembly. In short, I am sure 
that every one, upon reading the chapter 
on the legislative department, will admit 
that consolidation is thereby effected under 
a central government equipped for every 
emergency so far as the future can be dis- 
cerned by the past or anticipated by dili- 
gent study and forethought. 

If, however, more is needed to make unifi- 
cation complete, it will be found in the con- 
sideration of the deputed powers of the 
mayor and of the administrative depart- 
ments. 

Mayor’s Power of Appointment. 

The Mayor is given the power to appoint 
all the administrative and executive officers, 
excepting the Controller, who is rendered 
elective by the people every four years, so 
that the treasury and finances may be con- 
stantly in the hands of an independent de- 


partment. The Mayor will be ex-officio presi- 
dent of the Board of Public Improvements. 
He may direct the police in the enforcement 
of the laws, and in time of tumult or riot he 
may demand the assistance of the state mili- 
tia located within the city. He will have su- 
pervisory control over the various depart- 
ments and an enlarged veto power upon the 
acts of the Municipal Assembly. His power 
and patronage will be so great that it is no ex- 
aggeration to say that he will in these par- 
ticulars be a dignitary second only in im- 
portance to the President of the United 
States. . • 

The Boafd of Public Improvements is 
made up of the Mayor, Controller, Cor- 
poration Counsel, presidents of the various 
boroughs, each to have a vote only on mat- 
ters concerning his borough; and the re- 
spective heads of the departments of Water 
Supply, of Highways, of Street Cleaning, of 
Sewers and of Public Buildings, Lighting and 
Supplies. In this body all the large public 
works to be conducted by the various de- 
partments mentioned must originate. 

I have no time to speak in detail of the 
various departments; of Department of 
Finance, upon which we spent so many days 
of investigation and labor, assisted by the 
most expert financiers; the chapter upon 
which, -when completed, met with the hearty 
commendation of the efficient gentleman 
who is now the Controller of the City of 
New York; of the Law Department, in the 
construction of which we abolished all the 
special attorneyships existing in the several 
administrative departments of the various 
municipalities and intrusted the entire law 
business of the city to the sole care of the 
Corporation Counsel, who is given power, 
subject to the limitation, arising from the 
amount annually appropriated for the pur- 
pose by the Board of Estimate and Appor- 
tionment, to appoint as many assistant cor- 
poration counsels or attorneys as may be 
necessary to attend to all the law business 
of the city, or any of its officers; of the 
Department of Charities, with all its great 
and sacred trusts, wherein we have brought 
the city into co-operation with the State 
Board of Charities, conformably t.o the new 
provisions of the constitution of 1894, in the 
composition of which we had the efficient aid 
from the public discussions before us and 
from private communications from the lead- 
ing philanthropists of the state, and the 
foremost members of the New York bar— 
Mr. Choate, Mr. Gerry and Mr. Bliss; of the 
Department of Parks, where all the parks, 
great and small, plazas and public places, 
with their adjunctive boulevards and drive- 
ways, are placed under one symmetrical sys- 
tem under the control of expert architects, 
in which w'e had much assistance from men 
like Paul Dana, who have given years of 
their lives and thought to these grand prop- 
erties; of the Department of Buildings, the 
chapter on which at the public hearing re- 
ceived the utmost commendation from archi- 
tects, builders and all those concerned in its 
practical operations; of the Department of 
Corrections, which underwent the examina- 
tion of the various cognate officers in the 
different municipalities without a single ob- 
jection; of the Fire Department, to the con- 
struction of which those most experienced 
—like William Cullen Bryant of Brooklyn- 
suggested many novelties and betterments; 
of the Department of Docks and Ferries, 
wherein, after persistent effort to endow the 
city with a title to all the tideways and 
waste and unpatented lands within its do- 
main, we at least succeeded in giving it the 


prior right to these properties, and in cloth- 
ing the municipality with a primary power 
to control and develop the great harbor on 
both sides of the East River, upon both sides 
of the great bays and along its ocean front, 
which never again can be polluted by tho 
dumping scow, but will hereafter be washed 
by the ocean in Hs. native purity and beauty; 
of the Department of Taxes and Assessments, 
far too intricate and complicated to be dis- 
cussed on this occasion, but which, perhaps, 
required more time and closer study than 
any other ; of the Departments of Water Sup- 
ply, of Highways and of Sewers; of the De- 
partment of Street Cleaning, wherein we 
adopted the present vigorous and efficient 
system of the City of New York; of the De- 
partment of Public Buildings, Lighting and 
Supplies, wherein we abolished the board of 
electrical control and created an agency 
adequate to conduct all the modern uses 
of electricity by wires laid underground to 
the exclusion of the unsightly network of 
overhead wires now existing in some of the 
municipalities, and providing the citizen with 
inspectors competent to see not merely that 
the required volume of gas or electricity is 
furnished, but that the gas is of the requisite 
quality and the electricity of the required 
force; of the Department of Bridges, in which 
the great East River Bridge, as well as the 
bridges over the Harlem and elsewhere, is 
handed over to the care of a single head care- 
fully retaining in their places those officers 
who, by study and experience, are familiar 
with the peculiar mechanism of the greater 
structures; of the Department of Health, in 
which we have garnered all the provisions for 
ihe preservation of the life, comfort and 
health of the citizen, known to the volumin- 
ous charter of the City of New York and the 
other and better charters of our country; of the 
Department of Education, constructed under 
the guidance of our distinguished colleague, 
the president of the Columbia University, 
assisted by the aids and advisors who natur- 
ally surround him, and which ought to be the 
best system of education known to the cities 
of the globe. All these various departments, 
as constituted by ihe charter, have been 
under public consideration for several 
months, and it must be inferred from the 
fact, that in the midst of the somewhat 
heated opposition to consolidation under the 
charter no objection has been made to either 
of them, that they have met with general 
acceptance. 

A Minor Gem e£ tfcc Charter. 

Among the minor gems of the charter I 
may mention the art commission, which, 
emanating with the Society of Arts and Sci- 
ences in the city of New York, was finally, 
with the aid of Elihu Root, put into legal 
j form agreeable t« the constitution of the 
state. In this section we have, with some- 
thing of the Athenean spirit, cared for public 
works of art, and seen to it that no public 
building, memorial, statuary or work of art 
can be erected in any one of the public place* 
i of the city without the approbation of expert 
and distinguished artists. I commend also 
I the munificence with which the various lnsti- 
j tutions of the arts and sciences, situated in 
! our parks and throughout the great city, have 
been treated. I like the advance which will 
test the drugs and medicines sold by pharma- ( 
cists, not merely in search of adulterations, 
but so that all drugs and medicines shall be 
known to be of the requisite freshness and 
potency. I was glad to make the Sunday law 
uniform, so that a gentleman may be made 
presentable by going to a barber openly at 
1 any time before 1 o’clock on either side ot 


174 


PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHARTER AND ©E CWAHTWt MA1CYWO. 


the bridge; and. In a sporting spirit, I ’.ike 
the sections which provide for regattas on 
our rivers and bays so that when a great 
event like the international regatta takes 
place the police may clear the race course 
and the flying vessels be no longer impeded 
by tug6 or insolent craft. The measure which 
authorizes the issue of city bonds in small 
amounts so that the humblest citizen Jay 
invest his earnings in the debts of the met- 
ropolis, is a feature of deserved popularity. 

There are in my judgment only two sub- 
stantial errors in the charter. The first and 
less important consists in the plan for 
laying assessments for primary local im- 
provements after the work is done, and after 
it has been paid for by the issue of city 
bonds. The second error, which is of the first 
magnitude, consists in the restraint put upon 
the mayor’s power of removal, coupled with 
an enlarged term and a fixed ineligibility to 
re-election. I am quite sure the experience 
of less than ten years will bring the city back 
to the system proposed in the original draft, 
whereby assessments for first local improve- 
ments are laid upon the abutting property in 
advance, and their total collection made 
reasonably certain before a single bond is 
issued. 

For a Czar-Mayor and a Short Term. 

I am for a czar-mayor with a short term 
and a free right to go again to the people. 
I fully appreciate the objections successfully 
urged in the commission to so powerful an 
officer. I acknowledge there would be danger 
to the independence of the departments, and 
that an ambitious mayor with such power 
might concert all the vast machinery of the 
government to the uses of his party or him- 
self. There is a loss, too, in point of effi- 
ciency on the mayor’s part from a short 
term, whereby ho might go out of office at 
the very time when he was most competent 
for the discharge of his duties, but in my 
judgment these dangers and evils are of no 
considerable weight against the advantages 
of all responsibility for maladministration 
in one man, who must, either in person cr 
.hrough his party, go to the people every two 
years. I believe that the Supreme Ruler of 
the universe moves through the minds of the 
multitude, and in this age of free schools 
and ubiquitous journalism, no mayor with 
plenary power and full responsibility would 
dare to permit corruption or inefficiency to 
exist in any department, and if he did the 
people w r ould have only one head to hit, and 
nne party to demolish. Singly and alone, let 
the mayor be made responsible for all abuses 
or benefactions in municipal administration, 


and the people will have a certain and speedy 
way to remedy bad government, or to support 
wise and patriotic administration. 

This cardinal error cotrected, nothing 
w r ould remain of the subsidiary objections. 
It would then be wholly immaterial, in 
point of efficiency, whether the police de- 
partment were under one head or four 
heads, were partisan, bi-partisan or non- 
partisan. If the mayor had constantly 
the power of removal he could at any 
moment put an end to discord, irregularity 
or deadlock in a bi-partisan police 
board by discharging either or all of the 
commissioners. Under such a mayor it is 
better that the Police Department should be 
bi-partisan, since a body of policemen grow- 
ing in a few years from eight to fifteen 
thousand in number, might, through malign 
influences, upon those who are dependent 
upon the license and indulgence of the mu- 
nicipality; through the fears of the timid, 
whom they might menace, and by virtue of 
their organized and far reaching power, ex- 
ercise a control over our elections as fatal 
to our rights and liberties as a standing 
army in times of peace is to the freedom 
and prosperity of a republic. A bi-partisan 
beard, amenable at all times to the mayor’s 
power to remove, is far better than a par- 
tisan police with a bold and ambitious 
Foucbe at their head. 

Nor is there anything in the suggestion 
that the charter gives to the police any real 
control over the machinery of our elections. 
While the heads of the Bureau of Elections 
are selected by the bi-partisan Board of 
Police, and their offices are seated in that 
department, their relations to the elections 
is purely clerical and perfunctory. All the 
real election officers — the registers, who 
make up the list; the inspectors, who super- 
intend the casting of the ballots in the boxes 
and the canvassers who count the votes — 
are appointed by the regular committee of 
the political parties respectively. The re- 
turns are made to several departments and 
there is not the slightest chance under the 
charter for the police to interfere with the 
voter or the count. 

Not a Candidate for Any Office. 

I have thus, in whole or part, in principle 
and substance, from foundation to summit, 
in all its structural features, presented in 
concise form the charter for Greater New 
York. My embattled energies -were at it for 
eight long consecrated months. I know it 
from beginning to end. Since I have no selfish 
interest to conserve, I think I may speak of 
it with freedom and with pride. I shall not 


be a candidate for any of its offices. On the 
contrary, I shall be far away enjoying a 
needed rest in foreign lands at the time 
of its inauguration. I beseech my fellow 
citizens to confide the first administration 
of the charter exclusively to its friends. 
Those who have assailed it, as well as 
the opponents of consolidation, should 
have the decency to consider themselves 
ineligible to the first terms. No intel- 
ligent people would, in the first instance, 
confide so complex a piece of mechan- 
ism to those who are ignorant of its prin- 
ciples, or who have declared it defective in 
itsparts, or whose reputations, as prophets, 
might be enhanced by its failure. It is due 
to the commission that the charter be tested 
by its friends. 

It is likewise of the utmost importance to 
each section, as it is to the supreme munici- 
pality, that the ablest men should be chosen 
to fill the various offices. These two re- 
quests being observed, the charter is secure. 

It is adequate to all the emergencies of the 
vast future. It is constructed not merely for 
the present, but for many centuries to come. 
It has in it all the virtues of existing char- 
ters and the vices of none. It will adapt 
itself to any extent of domain and to any 
multiple of population. As well with a popu- 
lation of ten millions as with a population 
of three millions, it will give to each neigh- 
borhood the utmost care and attention, and 
to the imperial metropolis, as a whole, the 
utmost dignity and power. The form of 
government for Greater New York, it will 
be the model upon which greater London 
will be constructed. Under it the City of 
New York at one bound becomes the mis- 
tress of the Western Hemisphere and the 
second city of the world. Let it be to you 
what Athens was to the Greek, Rome to ths 
Roman, Florence to the Florentine; what St. 
Petersburg is to the Russian, Paris is to 
the French, London to the English — an ob- 
ject of constant solicitude and of civic pride! 
Preserve its honor; uphold its independence; 
develop its greatness. 

In all these patriotic aspirations you will 
find the charter a ready instrument for the 
best results. The full year is passing and in 
a little while the studied page will be a liv- 
ing reality. Upon that reality will hang the 
hopes, the happiness, the prosperity of mill- 
ions yet to be. In the approaching dawn of 
the twentieth century the majestic fabric 
rises upon the tides of time. As I hail it and 
bid it farewell, I fervently implore the favor 
of heaven in its behalf and I confidently in- 
trust it to the patriotism and the genius of 
mjr countrymen. 



-i 




the Charter of the City 
of New Yorh. 



A 


Sec. 


Abandonment cases 685 

Abatement suit9 1,287 

Accident or sickness, provisions for 670 

Acquisition of Lands, etc., for Public Pur- 
poses: 

Amendments of defects 1,445 

Appeal 1,442 

Board of Estimate and Apportionment to 

approve 1,436a 

Commissioners of Estimate, Powers, etc., 

and appraisal 1,437 

Controller to furnish clerks, etc 1,446 

Corporation Counsel to appear 1,446 

Entry upon, etc 1,436 

Maps to be prepared 1,436 

Notice of proceedings 1,436a 

Owners unknown, infants, etc 1,441 

Payment of awards and expenses, source of. 1,447 

Proceedings exempted 1.448 

Procedure 1,433 

Title vested by resolution * 1,439 

Act shall take effect Jan. 1, 1902 1,620 

Administrative departments 96 

Administrative departments, heads of 98 


Aldermen. 


Board of 18 

Aldermanic districts 1,620 

Aldermanic districts 19 

Bonds, power to require . . 55 

Budget, special meeting to consider 226 

Celebrations, additional allowances, etc 39 

Certain ordinances and resolutions 30 

City clerk, appointment by board 2S 

Commissioner of deeds. power to appoint — 58 

Contracts, restrictions on 417 

Corporate stock, to issue certain 169 

Election of 18 

Fire apparatus houses, power to locate 61 

Former board's power preserved 42 

Heads of departments as members............ 25 

Height of buildings restricted ... 407 

Investigating committees, power to appoint. 54 

Journal 35 

Majority vote for ordinances, etc 39 

Members barred from other city employment. 36 

Members, how elected 18 

Ordinances for certain purposes 49 

Power to acquire additional waterworks 8 

Power to grant franchises, etc 45 

Power to make or change certain ordinances. 43 
Power to provide for parks, bridges, docks, 

schoolhouses. etc 47 

President, as acting mayor 23 

President, how chosen, and powers 18 

Publication of ordinances 57 

Qualifications of members 20 

Quorum of 18 

Rules of proceeding, etc 27 

Salaries, power to fix certain 56 

Salary of President 18 

Sergeant at arms, etc 27 

Elections to remain in force till repealed by. 1620 

Special meetings, called by mayor, etc 37 

Special revenue bonds, appropriation for 187 

Streets, power to control 50 

Steamboats, etc., power to regulate 52 

Street trades, power to control 51 

Time of meeting 22 

Time of meeting 37 

Terms of Aldermen 18 

Time limit for vote on bonds for franchises.. 48 

Trustees of public property 59 

Vacancies, how filled 18 


• " ' Sec. 

Violations of law by 60 

Water fronts, etc., control of 83 

Water supplj. rents for 473 

American Female Guardian Society. See De- 
partment of Education. 

American Museum of Natural History 613 

Appointments, certificates of 1,547 

Appropriations for certain institutions 230 

Appropriations, transfer of 237 

Aquarium 613 

Armories, etc., leases of 217 

Armory board, duties of 1,565 

Arrests without warrant 337 

Art Commission; 

Members of commission, how chosen etc.. 632 

Officers 635 

Offices 636 

Removal or relocation of works of art 633 

Works of art to be submitted and approved 637 

Assessment lists filed 159 

Association for the Benefit of Colored Or- 
phans. See Department of Education. 

Auctioneers, licensing, etc 34 

Auditor of accounts 151 

✓ 

B 

Barber shops may be open on Sunday 1,535 

Bastardy proceedings 684 

Baths, floating, sites for 834 

Bellevue and allied hospitals 692 

Blind, relief of 676 

Board of Education. See Department of Edu- 
cation. 

Bonded debt, payment of, by Sinking Fund 

Commissioners 213 

Bonds and corporate stock, general 169 

Bonds and stocks, bids for 1S2 

Bonds for city employes 55 

Bonds for state taxes 186 

Bonds for various public works 47 

Bonds, furnished by any responsible com- 
pany 1,557 

Bonds, general fund; redemption of 222 

Bonds, redemption of certain 1S4 

Bonds, time limit for vote on 48 

Boundaries, changes of 1,582 

Bribery by city officials 1,533 

Bridges, Department of: 

Brooklyn bridge, a public highway 598 

Commissioner of, appointment and salary — 594 

Daily report to Controller 596 

Jurisdiction, etc 595 

Crimes on bridges, concurrent jurisdic- 
tion 599 

Devolution of power 601 

Penalty for injuring bridges 600 

Brooklyn Bridge, appropriations for 242 

Brooklyn Bridge, a public highway 598 

Brooklyn, deputy fire commissioner 721 

Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences 613 

Brooklyn unpaid taxes, etc 221 

Buildings, Bureau of. 

Board of examiners... 411 

Rules and regulations 409 

Superintendents. 

Accounts to be kept by 412 

Appeals from their decisions 411 

Power to vary laws 410 

Qualifications, duties, salaries, etc 405 

Records of applications to be kept by 413 

Building code 407 

Buildings, height of 407 

Bureau of street openings 258 


Boronglis, 


"T~ r Trrf;-rn*rcv 


Sec. 


Boundaries of 2 

Budgets and taxes for 1898 10 

Buildings for public offices 885 

Commissioner street improvements 23d ward 

removed 387 

Debts assumed by city 5 

Devolution of powers of former officers 383 

Engineers and architects 3S6 

Former funds payable to city 9 

Lighting, contracts for 630 

Not to become indebted 8 

Maps, etc., to be given to president 390 

Partial annexation, effect of., 6 

Pavements, removal of, etc 391 

President, qualifications, duties, salary, etc.. 382 

Sewerage works, contracts for 397 

Sewers, lateral, construction by private own- 

ers .* 400 

Sewers, overflow 392 

Sewers, penalty for injuring 399 

Sewers, power to acquire land for 396 

Sewers, president may buy materials for 393 

Sewers, private 395 

Sewers, temporary 394 

Taxes equalized (exceptions) 5 

Taxes for 1898 10 


C 


Cab (etcA fares 61 

Canal boats, dockage for, etc... 854 

Canal boats, territory appropriated to 854a 

Canal boats in East River 826 

Canals to be kept free 393 

Celebrations, additional allowances, etc 39 

Chamberlain. 

Appointment of 194 

Bond of 194 

Duties, general 195 

Fees 198 

Public moneys, care of 196 

Salary of .’ 196 

Charitable institutions, appropriations for 210 

Charities, Department of Public. 

Accident or sickness, provision for 670 

Bellevue and allied hospitals, trustees, juris- 
diction, etc 692 

Children commitment of 665 

Commissioner. 

Abandonment cases, to have charge of, 

etc 685-691 

Accounts, etc., to keep 674 

Appointment of, office, salary, etc 658 

Bastardy proceedings, control of, by '684 

Blind, may provide relief for 676 

Children, indenturing of, etc 664 

Cremation, power to order 673 

Deputies, appointment of, etc 659 

Inmates of institutions, classification of, 

etc 663 

Insane, care of, by 671 

Jurisdiction over certain public institu- 
tions 660 

May enlarge or alter public institutions..., 672 
May request assistance from correctional 

institutions 677 

Non-residents in city hospitals, care of.... 678 

Overseers of poor, etc 662 

Paupers, control and discipline of 682 

Potter’s fields, enlargements of 673 

Private institutions, payments to and over- 
sight of 661 

.Records of inmates, etc., to keep 667 


176 


INDEX TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 


Sec. 

Regulation of departments by 659 

Reports and requisitions from subordi- 
nates 679-80 

Supplies, to advertise and contract for 675 

Support by relatives, to enforce 

Charter, a public act, etc 1.620 

Children's Aid Society Schools. See Depart- 
ment of Education. 

Children’s courts 1.389 

Children, indenturing ' or commitment of 661 

Churches. exempt from taxation 904 


Probation officers, duties of 

Records of inmates of institutions, to keep 
Record of persons committed, etc., to keep 
Riker's Island building, etc., control of.... 

Subordinates must report to 

Supplies, may advertise for, etc 

Workhouse, superintendent of. to report to 

County officers’ salaries 

County officers under state 

County tax, how levied, etc 

County treasurer, office of. abolished 


Sec. 

707 
699 
709 
696 
706 
704 

708 

1.583 

1.584 
1,595 
1,587 


City Clerk t 

Appointment by Bd. Aldermen 2S 

Auctioneers, to license 34 

Commissioner of Deeds Clerk, power to ap- 
point 68 

Custodian of public documents 32 

Deputies and clerks 33 

Fe*s 2S 

Keeper of seal 31 

Records open for inspection 31 

Report for City Record 29 

Salary 33 

Signature necessary '. 31 

Successor in case of sickness 31 

City’s finances, statement of • 161 

City hospitals, care of non-residents in 678 

City magistrates 1,392 

City officers not to be interested in municipal 

contracts 1,533 

City officials subject to examination on 

charges .1,534 

City property, rights to, inalienable 71 

City Record :..... .. ....... 1,626 

Advertisement of legal proceedings, etc 1,526 

Canvass of votes, to publish 1,528 

Certain publications ....1,559 

List of city employes, to publish 1,623 

Plumbers, to publish, list of 1,528 

Supervisor of 1,527 

City Record, Board of ...1,526 

Printing, stationery, etc., to contract for.. 1,528 

Civil Service Commission (city) 123 

Civil Service, veterans In 127 

Claims against city .’ 261 

Claims against city 149 

Collector of Assessments and Arrears 151 

^Wlecter of city revenue and Supt. o{ Mar- 
kets 151 

College of City of New York. See Depart- 
ment of Education. 

Columbia College, grounds protected 972 

Commercial Paper During Epidemic, 

Persons in affected district to register, etc.. 1,499 

Commissioner of Deeds 6S 

Commissioners of Accounts 119 

Compulsory education law 1,078 

Condemnation, costs in 265 

Consolidated stocks, a charge upon Sinking 

Fund 213 

Contagious diseases, prevention of 236 

Contesting office 241 

Contracts and Local Improvements! 

Aldermen restricted . ......417 

Certificate of completion to be filed 421 

Controller to pay contractors 422 

Deposit to accompany bid....* 420 

Territorial, operation of 1,538 

Work and supplies 419 

Control of franchise grants 75 

Controller. See Department of Finance. 

Cornbury charter ..1,617 

Coroners 1,570 

Corporation Counsel, general duties 255 

Corporation newspapers 1.526 

Corporations, municipal and public devolu- 
tion of powers 1.615 

Correction, Department ofi 

Commissioner. 

Accounts, etc., to be kept by 703 

^ Appointment, powers, salary, etc 694 

Buildings may be repaired, etc., by 714 

Deputies, /nay appoint 694 

Criminals, etc., classification of 698 

Criminals, etc., power over 697 

Employment of inmates 700 

Fines for intoxication, etc., to be turned 

over to 706 

Hart’s Island buildings, control of 695 

Hours of labor, discipline, etc 702 

Inmates to work in other departments.... 701 

Institutions under jurisdiction of 695 

Intoxication, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, 

etc., penalties for 707 

Matrons, commissioner may appoint; du- 
ties of 715 

Grades, salaries of 716 

Present, conynued in office 717 


Coarts. 

Board of City Magistrates. 

Children’s courts, establishment by 1,399 

Composition of *.391 

Maintenance of order by 1-398 

Organization of, etc 1.393 

Police clerks, etc., appointment of, by, etc. 1,394 


Rules, authority to adopt 1,395 

Undue publicity 1-398 

City Court of New York. 

Justices of, etc 1.345 

Court of Special Sessions. 

Appeals from 1.414 

Clerks of, duties, etc 1.407 

Court continued 1.405 

District attorney to attend 1.415 

How held l»408 

Jurisdiction 1-409 

Justices to be magistrates 1.411 

Justices to make rules for 1.413 

Practice 1,410 

Qualifications, etc., of magistrates 1,416 

Vacancies, how filled, etc 1.406 

Criminal courts. 

Appeals from magistrates 1.404 

Boards of city magistrates 

Children’s court % procedure, eto^ 1.399 

Court records ...*. 1-400 

Divisions ... * 1,390 

Inability of magistrates to act 1,403 

Magistrates. appointment, or election, 

tenure, etc .......1,392 

Time of meeting, etc. 1,398 

Transfer of cases 1,403 

Marshals. 

Appointment by mayor, term, etc 1,425 

Continued, etc 1.424 

Powers, duties, etc 1,428 

Queens and Richmond .. 1,426 

Removal of 1.429 

Municipal Court. 

Abolition of former courts I,3o0 

Actions, in what district brought 1,370 

Appeals from 1,367 

Board of Justices, powers, etc 1,374 

Clerks and assistants 1,373 

Clerk to administer oaths 1,378 

Creation of ....... .-...1,351 

Districts, division of boroughs 1,358 

JuHsdlctlon of 1.364 

Justices, to administer oaths 1,379 

Justices, election of. etc 1,352 

Justices may use court houses 1,380 

Justices, removal of 1,383 

Order of business, etc 1,375 

Procedure, etc .....1,369 

Process 1,368 

Seals 1.372 

Supreme Court rules applicable 1,377 

Where held 1,371 

Cremation, in certain cases 673 


D 


Damages for street openings, etc 174 

Deflciences, payment of certain 232 

Deficiencies under Chap, 19i, Daws of 1880.. 232 

Defrauding city 1,551 

Departments, general administration of the. 

Appointing power, heads of 1,543 

Documents for taxpayers 1,545 

Power of heads of 1,543 

Public records to be kept 1,546 

Department reports to mayor 1,544 

Docks and ferries, Department oft 

Canal boats, dockage for, etc 8o4 

Certain substances not to be dumped 8S0 

Commissioner. 

Annual expenses limited 828 

Annual reports to mayor 829 

Appointment, salary, etc 816 

Assistants, clerks, etc., to 828 

Canal boats, exemption of 826 

Contracts, etc., to be approved by Sink- 
ing Fund Commissioner 816a 

Deputy, appointment by, salary, etc 816 


Sec. 

Dock masters, duties, etc 847 

Dock master to report to 863 

Docks for street cleaning department and 

Board of Health, may designate 836 

Ferries, leasing of, etc., by 82,5 

Fire dep’t water front, may provide 838 

Floating baths, may provide sides for 834 

Jurisdiction, powers, duties, etc 817 

Lands under water, acquired from state by. 831 

Obstructions, to be removed by. etc 849 

Offices, maintenance of by 828 

Oyster business, to be regulated by 825 

Piers, docks, etc., to contract for and build. 821 

Recreation piers, may provide 837 

Rules for government of warehouses, etc., 

may establish 327 

Seal of * 820 

Snow and ice may be dumped from piers.. 878 

Water front, to authorize surveys of 820 

Water may be deepened by 832 

Wharf property, purchase of by. 822 

Acquirement of certain 823a 

Wharfage and dockage charges, to regulate 825 

Docks and piers for garden produce, etc 858 

False personation of dock master 868 

Floating docks authorized 870 

Harlem River, certain improvements 877 

Injuries to vessels at wharf ends 879 

Land under water, grants of 876 

Markets and wharves, public 835 

Piers, slips and wharfage. 

Offices abolished (harbor master, captain of 


port) 8 47 

Sheds, etc., may be built on piers 844 

Storehouses, etc., not authorized 846 

Wharves must not be used as dumping 

grounds 845 

“Property” and “wharf property” defined.... 833 

Stations for vessels, penalties 867 

Scows to receive ashes, etc.. 881 

Wharfage end dockage rates 859 

Water front, plans and restrictions for 819 

Waters in port of New York 864 

Dogs, keeping of 81 

Drains, issue of bonds for 171 


E 


Education .Department off ~n 

Appropriation for school funds 1,664 

Associate city superintendents 1,071 

Auditors . 1,067 

Board of Education. 

Accounts of, etc., to be kept by 1,097 

Annual report to State Supt. and Mayor.. 1,034 
Apportionment for schools accidentally 

omitted 1,155 

Board of superintendents, appointed by.... 1,079 

Branches, buildings, etc., to provide 1,071 

Buildings, etc., for use of * 1,085 

Cler *s, officers, etc., to appoint 1,067 

Estimate of expenses, to submit 1,064 

Executive committee, powers, etc 1,032 

Former boards, to succeed 1,058 

Grades courses and classes, change of by.1,084 

Janitors, appointment of, by 1,074 

Members, duties, salaries, etc 1,061 

Nautical schools to be established by 1,197 

New York Institution for the Blind, pro- 
vision for 1,161 

Personal property, disposal of by 1,066 

Powers of investigation 1,100 

Public School Society, to succeed 1,057 

Represent schools before Aldermen, etc.... 1,064 

Rules and regulations, to make 1,068 

Salaries of teachers, etc., power to fix. ...1,091 

School age of children, to prescribe l,05f 

School boards, districts, etc., to provide 

for 1,087 

School books, etc., distribution of by 1,071 

School property, to have control of 1,055 

Secretary and chief clerk of 1,070 

Special classes for English, to provide ....1,069 

Succeed borough boards , 1,069 

. Text books, supplies, etc., to approve 1,083 

Training schools for teachers, to provide.. 1,069 
Borough superintendent, office of abolished.. 1,079 

Certain private schools 1,152 

City superintendent of schools 1,077 

College of the City of New York. 

Instruction free, degrees, etc 1,132 

Laws applicable 1,129 

Mayor’s jurisdiction 1,128 

Participation in state funds 1,130 

Retirement fund for officials and professoral, 130a 

Separate corporation 1,127 

Trustees, etc 1.128 


Trustees to report to Board of Aldermen.. 1,133 
Trustees to report to Board of Estimate.. 1.131 


INDEX TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 


m 


Sec. 

Corporate schools may beoome merged 1.156 

District superintendents, assignment of, etc.. 1,078 

Employes continued in office 1,101 

Examiners, Board of 1,089 

Funds for, raised by taxation ...1)059 

Interest in contracts forbidden 1,098 

Kindergartens, manual training schools, etc.. 1,069 

Lists of principals and teachers 1,081 

Local school boards, duties, etc 1*087 

Method of teaching.; 1,086 

Normal College of City of New York. 

Corporation and college 1,139 

Instructions free, degrees, etc 1.148 

Laws applicable to 1,141 

Moneys appropriated for 1,145 

Trustees, powers, duties, etc...;:; 1,140 

Trustees to report to Boards of Regents and 

Aldermen 1.144 

Trustees to report annually to Board of Es- 
timate, etc 1.142 

Plans for new buildings 1,078 

Political contributions forbidden 1,099 

Principals and teachers, appointments and 

resignations of ....1,090 

Promotion or transfer of pupils 1,082 

Property vested in city ...1,055 

Public school teachers’ retirement fund... .1,092 

Religious sects, etc., excluded .' 1,151 

School funds, special and general, their 

uses 1,060 

School moneys from state 1,103 

Special branches, teachers of 1,085 

Superintendent of school buildings 1,072-3 

Superintendent of school supplies 1,076 

Supervisor of lectures 1,067 

Teachers’ licenses 1,089 

Election in 1901 ....1,619 

Electricity, see Chapter XI, page 50. 

Electricity, see Depts. of Water Supply, etc. 

Epidemic, commercial paper during 1,499 


Estimate and Apportionment, Board oft 


Apportionment of funds for 1898-1902... 
Appropriations for contesting office .. 

.Appropriations, transfer of 

Approval of bonds for public works.. 

Bonds, redemption, of 

Brooklyn bridge, maintenance of .... 

Budget, power to amend, in 1902 

Contagious diseases 

Corporate stock, to be issued by ...... 

Counsel fees, payment of certain .... 

Docks and ferries*, to issue bonds for 

Drains, to issue bonds for 

Duties, general 

Excise moneys 

Home for Fallen Girls 

Maps for ptreets, etc., to approve.... 

Members of 

Payment of certain counsel fees .... 

Salaries, power to recommend 

Special appropriations for certain 

tutlons 

Street opening, to issue stock for .... 

Street sweeping, contracts for 

Subject to Chap. IV, Laws of 1891 

Water works, extension of 

Water works, to issue stock for 


10 

241 

237 

47 

184 

242 

/ 10 

236 

169 

231 

180 

179 

226 et seq. 

240 

238 

1,540 

226 

231 

56 

insti- 

230 

... 176 

239 

45 

242 

178 


Executive power, vested in mayor, borough 

presidents, etc .' 

Exempt Firemen’s Benevolent Fund 808 

Expenses not to exceed appropriations ,..1,542 


F 


Federal government, lands for 

Fees, etc., lawful 1 

Ferries, see Department of Docks and Ferries. 


Finance, Department ofi 


Controller. 

Application of certain moneys 

Appointment of clerks to receiver of taxes 

and collector of arrears 

Bonds and stocks, to receive bids for 

Bonds, to prescribe form of 

Bonds, redemption of 

Deputy controllers 

Docks and ferries, to issue bonds for 

Drains, to issue bonds for 

Election of 

General powers and duties * 


162 

160 

182 

169 

184 

150 

180 

179 

97 

149 


Sec. 


Indorsement on R. T. contracts. 45 

! ; Public * moneys,,* care of . . . . r. ....... >• ... . ... 196 

Publication of. financial, statement, 161 

W’allabout Market,, control .164 

W T ater works, to issue 'Stocks for 178 

Removal of 97 

Special ^revenue bonds, to issue 187 

"State taxes, to issue bonds for 186 

Street openings, to issue stock for 176 

Subject to Chap. IV, Laws of 1891........... 45 

Successor (temporary) 97 


Fire Departments 

Candidacy for office forbidden 732 

Commissioner. 

Actions, fees, suits,, etc., control of, ,^y.. .. .731 

Apparatus, horse, etc., to provide 72o. 

Appointments, salary, etc 720 

Brooklyn, shall •appoint *' deputy .commis- 
sioner for T21. 

Buildings may be pulled down to prevent 

spread of Are 754 

Bureaus to be organized by 7 71 

Discipline, etc , by. . 739 

Explosives, provision for, by 753 

Hose bridged, "to provide for. 4 749" 

Insurance companies to pay tax to, etc.. .^798 

Powers, Jurisdiction, etc..-.. .j_„724 

Promotions, how made, - etc........ 728~ 


Property, to control, etc*...... 726 

Resignations, absences, etc., permission 

for 735 

Right to examine buildings, etc 771 

Sappers and miners, appointment of, etc... 751 

Subordinates, selection of, by 728 

Treasurer, to be. 723 

Uniforms, badges, etc., prescribed by 733 

Warrants of appointment, issued by........ 737 

Consolidation of 722 

Exempt Firemen’s Benevolent Fund 808 


Fireworks, explosives, etc., restrictions con- 
cerning 764 

Fire marshals ........ .. ... 727 

Grades, ranks, salaries, etc 740 

Hydrants, obstruction of forbidden 750 

Idle persons, etc., at Ares 755 

Inspector of combustibles.. ..^..'727 

Investigation of Ares ’. 779 

Jurisdiction over harbor Ares on vessels.... 756 

Military and Jury duty 736 

Qaths of office 738 

Pensions, relief fund, etc 789 

Prevention of Ares 761 

Property owners’ liabilities, etc ....... 761 

QualiAcations of members * 734 

Right of way. etc \ 748 

Taxation of foreign insurance companies, 

etc... 798 

Volunteer departments 722 

W r ater fr wit for... ...-...*• 828 

I 

Five Points House of Industry. See Depart- 
ment of Education. 

Franchises for use of streets, etc., proceed- 
ings prior t> grants 74 

Franchises, must be by ordinance.- 72 

Franchises, etc., not affected 1,617 

Franchises, time of limit for vote on 48 

Franchises, time limitation of 73 

Franchises, turtnel railroads 73 


G 


Garbage vessels, towing of... 1,663 

Gas. inspection of..... r .* 522 

Gas. price of in Richmond and Queens ..1,589 

Gas. see also Departments of W T ater Supply, etc. 
Grades of streets, changes of 951 


Sec. 

Appeals and stays, of Judgment 1.292 

. Appellate, .division. Judgment of:.. .1,294 

Execution. .In ..J;£98 

Expens.es. in, execution (in abatement suits). l f 295 

Expenses of department in. l,-?93 

Infected buildings 1.-299 

injunctions. In. o • 4^97 

Lien of Judgment, how removed*.-..-. 1,291 

Nuisances, suits to abate, etc 1.2S8 

Actions. and Arrests for violation of orders. .1, $62 

Authority, duties and powers 1468 

Births, marriages and deaths 1.179 

Deaths .to. .be. . reported ... .. 1.238 

Births to be reported .1,237 

Persons solemnizing marriages to keep rec- 

orde 1,236 

Registration of births not previously re- 4 
f corded - 1,241 

* ’ . . ... .;. j_. i ,*' . * ' f'. 

Board of Health. 

Annual report to Mayor 1,168 

Badges to-be provided...,;. ........... v. 1,187 

Borough . offices to he maintained 1,181 

Complaint, book, . to keep. 1,200 

Contagions, etc 1,170 

Dangerous buildings, vessels, places, etc.. 1,176 

. Dea th, d isease and health . statistics. 1469 

Delegation, of powers.... 1,182 

Dispensaries, hospitals, schools, etc., to re- \ 

port to ... 1.169 

Enforcement of laws by...... 1.169 

ExamlnAtlon and surveys, to authorize 1488 

Hospitals. Jurisdiction over l t 170 

May sue and be sued 1.192 

Market stands and stalls 1.171 

Measures to prevent disease. ............ .1,2191-20 

Members of, etc....* 1,167 

North Brother Island Hospital • and others. .1,170 

Nuisances, to be abated by.. 1... ......1,171 

Orders may be executed through 1,197-8 - 

Peril from pestilence, etc*....!.; ’ 1,178 

Proceedings of Judicial... 1,173 

! Proclamation period, may*be extended by.. 1,228 

Putrid cargoes, to destroy...... 1.210 

Removal of night soil and offal 1,205 

Repairs of buildings, etc...'..... 1,171 

Report and statistics of. 1.175 

Sanitary engineering service I486 

Sanitary inspectors- to appoint..... 1,185 

Seal . . . .r;'. . . 1.174 

Service of orders of....Y.... .1,224 

Vaccination .: 1,225 

Vessels, etc., removal of by .4,221 

i Violation -of orders of 1,222 

Boarding and lodging houses to report 1,250 

Bureaus ........ 1,179 

Coroner's returns to 1,203 

DeAnitlons 1,229 

Duties of owners, lessees, etc 1.70*1 

Expenses of orders, statement to be Aled....l,279 

Expenses to be a lien 1.276 

Extraordinary expenditures 1477 

False personation of officers 1,267 

False returns 1»266 

Fees prohibited {..* ...4,195 

Injunctions against 1.260 

Liability of owners 1,275 

Lodging Houses. 

Cellars and basements 1.309 

Certain businesses in prohibited 1*311 

Construction of, rules concerning, penal- 
ties, etc 2*915 

^ Construction, etc 1,304 

DeAnitlons l* 3 ^ 5 

Houses to meet requirements.... 1,314 

Inspection twice a year 1,313 

Notices from Health Dept, to be posted, " 

etc 1*812 

Owners' names to be registered 1,312 

Owners to notify Health Dept, of sickness 

in 1;313 

Roofs, stairs and Are escapes 1.306 

Sleeping rooms, ventilation. . ....••••••••.••4,307 

W f ater closets, etc r 1.308 



Harlem Rivet improvement 

Harlem time extended 

Hart's Island buildings.... 


Health, Department oft 

Abatement by suit. 

Abatement suits, claims for penalty 


218 

877 

695 


1,293 


Lymph and • -antltoxlne.. 1,226 

Masters of vessels to report diseases 1.251 

Nuisance deAned .. 1,287 

Paving, draining, etc., regulations for 1.215 

Pension fund, etc..; 1.319 

Personal liability 1,196 

Physicians to report certain diseases 1.247 

Police Department assistance 1.201 

Prompt action required.. 1.269 

Punishment for disobeying orders. etc..l,257 et set- 

Records of, to be kept by department 1,240 

Registrar of records 1.L9 

Removal of dead bodies 1,204 

Retention of moneys by department 1,280 


INDEX TO THE CHARTER OF THE CTTT OF NF'tt YORTC. 


ITS 


Sec. 

Right of inspection . * .....1,199 

Sanitary code, application of 1.172 

Sanitary superintendent .1,179 

Salaries - .1,194 

Secretary of * 1,182 

Service of order 1.279 

Suit for expenses 1.277 

Tenement House Commissioner. 

Annual report to mayor 

Certificates to owners, to issue 1,344 

Complaint book, to be kept bv..... ...1,338 

Inspection of tenements by 1,343 

Inspectors to report to 1,336 

Police to assist l,344n 

Proofs, affidavits, etc., may be taken by.. 1,337 

Records, to provide a system of 1,3441 

Statistics, etc., to provide for publication. 1,334 

Transfer of property to ...1,3441 

Uniforms and badges, to provide 1,335 

Tenement House Department. 

Attorneys, appointment by corporation coun- 
sel, etc 1.339 

Bureaus for boroughs ..1,338 

Commissioner and deputies 1,326 

Co-operation of other departments 1,344m 

Definition of “department’* *..l,344o 

False personation l,344g 

Fire escapes, etc., to regulate 1,341 

Infected, etc.; houses to be vacated........ 1,341a 

Repairs, may be ordered by............ 1,341b 

Health Department provisions, application 

of . .l,344h 

Hospitals, etc., to make weekly reports to.l,344j 

Injunctions against 1,344b 

Inspectors, etc., punishment of for false 

returns l,344f 

Light, ventilation, etc., to regulate 1,342 

Officers and employes ....1,329 

Offices and expenses; * 1,331 

Personal liability l,344d 

Police department to report to 1.344 j 

Powers, duties, etc., general 1,340 

Right of entry and inspection ,.,..l,344e 

Saving clause * * l,344p 

6eal 1,332 

Hempstead, property held in trust for... ....... 1,590 

Home for Fallen Girls..: 238 


I 

Insurance companies (foreign) how taxed 798 


Interest on public moneys 196 

Interregnums, how prevented 1,613 

Intoxication* disorderly conduct, etc., pen- 
alties for 707 

Investigating committees 54 


J 

Jails, Sinking Fund Com’r's may designate.. 205 

L 


Lands under water, grants of 876 

Lands, etc., acquirement of, by city,... w.,.. 1,435 

Law. Department of: 

Branch offices . * 257 

Claims against city 261 

Bureaus 258 

Condemnation, costs in 265 

Corporation Counsel, general duties *, 255 

Corporation Counsel’s assistant's bond 260 

Issuance of execution 264 

Jurisdiction of actions 262 

Leake and Watts’ Orphans’ House, see De- 
partment of Education. 

Legislative power vested in one board 17 

Local courts, see Courts, etc. 


Local Boards: 


Constitution and jurisdiction 426 

Districts of local improvement 425 


Sec. 


Meetings, etc 430 

Power of appointment 256 

Procedure and powers ; 427 

Service of process 263 

Local courtB, see Courts, etc. 


Local Improvements: 


Boundaries and surveys * * 448 

Drainage plans to be filed 445 

Drainage, raising grade for 447 

Drainage and sewer systems to be completed 444 

Maps, custody of 443 

Petitions for 432 

Power to assess for : 436 

Sew’er systems, etc., to be completed 444 

Street grades, etc., may be changed 444 


Lodging houses, see Department of 
Health. 


M 


Magistrates, city 1.392 

Map of city, provision for 433 

Map of sewer system, provision for 43$ 

Markets, public, regulation of 163 

Markets and wharves, public 835 

Marriages, births and deaths, see Depart- 
ment of Health. 

Marshals 1.424 


Mayor. 


Appointing power 118 

Chief executive ..i 91 

Clerks and salaries 117 

Duties, general 115 

Election and terms of 94 

Municipal Civil service commission, appoint- 
ment or 123 

Police pdWer 121 

Power of removal 93 

Proclamation in case of pestilence, etc — 120 

Public moneys, care of 196 

Removal by governor 122 

Salary of 91 

Special meeting of aldermen, may call 37 

Veto of certain salary ordinances 56 

Veto power 40 

Meters, water 475 

Metropolitan Museum of Art 613 

Montgomerie charter .* 1,617 

Municipal courts. Sinking Fund Commission- 
ers may locate 205 


N 


Nautical Schools i,i57 

New York Botanical Garden 613 


New York, City of. 


Board of Aldermen, general powers 4 

Common debt of city 5 

Corporations consolidated l 

Corporations’ liabilities assumed 4 

Expenses of, for 1898-1902 10 

Debiy. jf corpoi aliens # 5 

Power io contracts, etc 3 

Successor corporation l 


New York Juvenile Asylum, see Department 
of Education. 

New York Orphan Asylum School, see Depart- 


ment of Education. 

New York Public Library 623 

New York Zoological Gardens 626 

Nicoll’s charter 1,617 

North Brother’s Island Hospital 1,170 


Normal College of City of New York, s*e De- 
partment of Education. 

Nursery and Children’s Hospital, see Depart- 
ment of Education. 


O 


Sec. 

Oath, official . 1*548 

Officer not to hold any other civil office, etc... 1,549 
Ordinances and regulations for certain pur- 
poses 49 

Ordinances for all franchises 71 

Ordinances, publication of 57 

Ordinances, style of 38 

Ordinances to remain in force 41 

Orphan asylums and industrial schools in 
Brooklyn. (See Department of Education). 
Clyster business 825 


P 

Parks, Department of: 


Board 607 

Commissioners of 607 

Accounts, keeping of 617 

American Museum of Natural History 622 

Battery place water front, etc.... 619 

Appointment and salary 607 

Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.. 624 

Buildings, etc., maintained by 613 

Fire apparatus, buildings for 615 

General powers of 610 

Harlem river improvement 620 

Landscape architect, appointments by and 

duties 611 

Metropolitan Museum of Art 621 

Military encampments, fairs, etc 627 

New York public library 623 

New York Botanical Garden 625 

New York Zoological Garden 626 

Subordinate officers 614 

Supplies, advertisements for 618 

Gifts of real and personal property to 609 

Power under former acts ; 616 

Title to 608 

Parks, opening of, see street and park openings. 

Patented articles .1,551 

Paupers, control and discipline of 682 

Pawnbrokers, police inspection of 317 

Pensioners not to hold office 1,560 

Permits for buildings, etc 903 

Physicians, duties of i.1.247 

Piers, slips and wharfage, see Department of 
Docks and Ferries. 

Plumbers, list of to be published 1.528 

Police clerks, appointment of, the 1,594 

Police, consolidation of 273 


Police, Department of. 


Actions against department 302 

Arraignment of offenders 338 

Arrests without warrants 337 

Composition of force 276 

Control of force and transfers 277 

Commissioner. 

Appointment, salary, etc 270 

Board of Health, to assist 310 

Boats, use of, by 324 

Board of 297 

Department of Bridges, to assist 314 

Department of Parks, to assist 313 

Deputy commissioners, to appoint 270 

Discipline 300 

Horses, etc., may employ 324 

Increase of force 2S9 

May detail persons to attend court 309 

Police property, may sell 324 

Polls, policemen at 307 

Powers over certain trades 316 

Precincts to designate 320 

Promotions 288 

Punishments, etc 302 

Responsibility 292 

Rewards to informers 305 

Station house, to furnish 320 

Telegraph, etc., to maintain ?23 

Witnesses, to provide places for detaining. 321 

Consolidation of police 273 

Criminal process, rules for service 340 

Detectives, Central Office Bureau 290 

Finances of department 297 

Gambling, suppression of 3ift 


INDEX TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 


ITS 


Sec. 

General duties of force 315 

Matrons 360 

Matrons to contribute to pension fund 366 

Other office holding forbidden 291 

Pension fund 351 

Personating policemen, penalty for 339 

Political and other contributions forbidden.. 306 

Property clerk, his duties 331 

Qualifications 284 

Resignations and absences 303 

Returns of arrests 338 

Salaries of officers and members 299 

Spfediai patrolmen . 308 

Special telegraph patrolmen 350 

Station houses for women 359 

Steam boilers, engineers must be licensed.. 343 

Subpoenas and oaths 301 

Surgeons, duties and districts 294 

Wilful neglect of duty 339 

Women, arrest of, etc 363 

Potter’s fields, enlargement of 673 

Probation officers, duties of 707 

Property may be conveyed to city 992 

Property to be sold at auction 1,553 

Public administrator, county of New York 1,585 

Public property may be disposed of ... 76 

Public works, Aldermen’s power to provide.... 47 
Publication of ordinances 57 



Queens county, disposition of certain funds.. 1,591 

Queens county, towns in. abolished ...1,581 

Quorum, in boards of departments 1,541 

/ 


R 


Rapid Transit Com., action under Chap. IV., 

Laws of 1891 45 

Recreation piers, provision for and uses of .. 837 

Receiver of taxes . - 151 

Regattas etc., newer to regulate 51 

Removal of city employes 1,543 

Repeal of sections, schedules 1,620 

Repeal of sections, schedules 1.620 

Repeal or amendment of this act 1,618 

Repeal provisions, etc 1,608 

Richmond county villages and towns abol- 
ished ....1,579 

Rights and remedies preserved 1.614 

Riker’s Island Buildings 696 


Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum. See De- 
partment of Education. 


S 


St. John’s College, grounds protected 

Salaries of certain employes 

Schedules of sections repeated 

School lands, auction of 

Schools, etc., exempt from taxation 

Schools, public. See D?pt. of Education. 

Sectarian schools not to have city money 

Sections to remain in force 

Sewage disposal works 

Sewage work, contracts for 

Sewers, drainage, etc. See Title 4. page 48 


972 

56 

1,620 

220 

904 

1,552 

1,620 

401 

337 


ei seq. 

Sewers, lateral, construction by private own 

ers * • 

Sewers, material for 

Sewers, penalty for injuring 

Sewers, power to acquire land for 

Sewers, private 

Sewers, temporary •••• 


409 

39 S 
399 
396 
395 
394 


Sinking Funds 

Alteration of rates prohibited 216 

Bellevue and allied hospitals, provision for 692 

Brooklyn tax sale certificates •• 221 

Commission, members of 204 

Commissioners may pay bonded debt 213 

Commissioners to set apart sufficient to 

redeem bonds payable from 222 

Docks and ferries, stock for ISO 

Duties and powers 204 

Jails, commissioners may designate 205 

Lands for Federal government purposes.... 218 
Leases for public purposes to be made by 217 
Markets, control of 163 


Sec. 


Municipal courts, location of 205 

Preferred bonds to be paid from 214 

Purposes of 206 

School lands, auction of 220 

Water Sinking F*und 205 

Society for Reformation of Juvenile Delin- 
quents, see Department of Education. 

Special revenue bonds .’ 187 

Stages and omnibuses. 

Application to Mayor ....1,459 

Consent of Board of Aldermen 1,459 

Consent of property owners 1,458 

Franchises, disposal of 1,460 

Restrictions 1,461 

State Normal School, Jamaica 1,055 

State powers not affected 1,620 

Steam boilers, inspection of 342 

Street cleaning:, department of: 

Commissioner, appointment of 533 

Allotment of sweepers 539 

Disposition of sweepings, to contract for 544 

Division of streets into districts 539 

Jurisdiction, etc 534 

May remove and dispose of trucks, etc.... 545 

Power to obtain plant, etc 541 

Removal of employes, etc 537 

Snow, removal of 536 

Uniforms, badges, etc 543 

Devolution of powers of former boards 547 

Docks, etc., to be cleaned by Dock Dept.... 540 

Expenses of .' 546 

Members of, etc : .* 536 

Members not liable for jury duty, etc 638 

Piers, etc., for dept’s use 542 

Streets and wharves not included 535 

Streets and parks, opening: of: 

Commissioner. 

Appeals, their effect, etc.. 988 

Appointing order to be filed 1,011 

Controller to publish report of 1,005 

Corporation Counsel to furnish clerks, etc., 

for 997 

Corporation Counsel to appear for city 997 

Damages and benefits, to ascertain...* 980 

Damages, when to be paid 1,001 

Estimate to be deposited, etc. 981 

Form of procedure of 978 

Oaths of S77 

Powers of 979 

Proceedings upon presentation of report 

of 9S6 

Report of. rules for firing, etc 984 

Sums assessed by to be liens # 1,004 

Taxation of costs 999 

Time for completion of services 991 

Witnesses before . 983 

City’s compensation or liability to be fixed 

by 995 

Columbia college, grounds protected 972 

Commissioners of estimate and assessment.. 973 

Controller may issue bonds for damages 1,002 

Costs, charges, fees, etc., of 997 

Discontinuance of proceedings 1,900 

Equality of assessment 1,003 

Interest on unpaid assessments 1,006 

Moneys to persons under disabilitv 1,002 

Notice in proceedings to open streets 1,008 

Owners may convey to city, etc 992 

St. John’s college, grounds protected £72 

Supreme court has amending power 974 

Two commissioners may act 976 

University of City of New York, grounds pro- 
tected 972 

Vacancies among commissioners 975 

Vesting of title in city 990 

Street pavements, expenses of restoring 183 

Street pavements, removal of, etc... 391 

Street openings, corporate stock for v 176 

Streets, regulation of 50 

Streets, sewers, etc., bonds for 181 

Street sweeping, contracts for 239 

Street trades, regulation of — 51 


T 


Sec. 

etc * 960 

Assessments not to exceed one-half valuation 947 

Bills for taxes to show arrears 1,026 

Board of Assessors: 

Appointment, salary, etc 943 

Assessments for deepening water 954 

Award damages for changes in grades 951 

Certificates on w’hich assessments are made 946 

Description of property assessed 949 

Notice of completion of assessments 950 


Board of Taxes and Assessments. 

Assessed valuations increased or dimin- 


ished by 896 

Equalize valuations of property in all bor- 
oughs 899 

President of, etc 885 

Reduce or rein it a tax 847 

Churches, schools, etc., exempt 904 

Confirmation of assessments, comptroller to 

publish 1,018 

Comptroller’s statement to aldermen basis for 

taxation 900 

Corporations, how taxed 921 

Correction of assessments 895 

County charges 902 

Deputy tax commissioners, duties, etc 887 

Division of notification 1,023a 

Insurance companies (foreign), how taxed.. 798 
Interest on unpaid assessments 1,019 

Interest rate on arrears 1,020 

Offices of 890 

Permits for buildings, etc 903 

Personal property, how entered 894 

Power of court limited 962 

President of' Board of Aldermen, to estimate 

taxes, etc 909 

Proceedings to vacate 963 

Re-assessmeiit 964 

Receiver of taxes. 

Arrears returned to collector 1,023 

Daily statements and payments to cham- 
berlain. by 922 

Daily statements to Comptroller by 923 

Interest on unpaid taxes 916 

Notices to delinquents, to give 918 

Provision in case of sickness 925 

Public notice to taxpayers 9.14 

Rebate for prompt payment 915 


Unpaid personal tax, collection of, etc.. 926 


Remedies for local improvements limited 958 

Remedy in case of fraud or error 959 

Review of correction by certiorari 906 

Revision and cancellation 898 

Revision of assessments, board of f*l 

Sales of lands for taxes, etc j&JV 

Street openings, assessments for «*•>*.+.* wfcj 

Surveyor 

Tax commissioner 

Taxes and water rents to be liens • ••*•£,/&* 

Unclaimed lands 

Undivided parts of taxes 920 

Unpaid taxes levied prior January, 1, 1898.. is7 
Unpaid water rents te be reported to Comp- % 

troller 1,029 

Water rents in assessment rolls 


Tenement houses. See Department of Health. 

Tenure of office 1,558 

Territorial operation of contracts, etc 1,538 

Title to certain lands, vesting of title In city 990 

Trusteeship of Aldewn^ 2r 

Tunnel railroad fraFiifoVe* Y 


U 


University of City of New York, grounds 
protected & 


V 


Veto, T&i. ytr \ o»i*vr of 40 

Vital See Department of Health. 

Volunteer Firemen’s Home, tax funds to be 
paid to 80S 


Taxes and Assessments, Department of: 


Aggregate borough valuations S99 

Aldermen to correct, revise, etc.. 910 

Aldermen to receive assessment rolls 907 

Annual record of assessed valuation 892 

Apportionment of assessment 1.021 

Arrears in assessment rolls 1,025 

Assessments and arrears, where paid 157 

Assessment for repaving 948 


Assessments not affected by technical errors, 


W 


Wallabout Market 15) 

Wards, continuation of, etc 1,5> # 

Water front, control of (i 

Water front plans and restrictions 8).f 

Water Supply, Gas and Electricity. Depart- 
ment of. 

Assessment on lands used 48C 

Bends for purchase of real estate *09 


ISO 


INDEX Tn THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NETT YORK. 


Sec. 


Commissions. 

Appointed by Mayor 468 

Appropriations, transfer of 461 

Deputies, appointment of 452 

Electric lights, meters, etc., to inspect 519 

Employes, transfer of 460 

Engineers, appointment of 453 

Executive power 450 

Expenditures to be accounted for 513 

Gas to inspect! 522 

Jurisdiction 469 

Lighting, to prepare separate contracts.... 530 

Meters, may enforce use of 475 

Ordinances for electric wires, etc., to be 

submitted by 523 

Real estate, acquirement of 4S4 


Bee. 


Responsible for sources 479 

Salary 468 

Commissioners of appraisal, appointment, 

etc 490 

Devolution of power upon 517 

Highways and bridges made necessary by 

reservoirs -512 

Inspector of electric wiring 524 

Lake Mahopac 514 

Maps, showing real estate required 4S6 

Meters, water 475 

Offices, branch 46S 

Office, main .'.... 46S 

Patent hydrants, etc., use of, restricted 477 

Pollution of sources 481 

Proceedings pending to be continued 515 


Removal of electric wires • 

Rent, non-payment of.... 

Rents (for), water supply 

Underground electrical conductors, provi- 
sion for 

Use of ground under streets 

State Board of Health, jurisdiction of 

Twenty-fourth Ward, power to contract for.. 

Water works, extension of 

Water works, power to acquire additional... 
Water works, sale of lands for, see Depart- 
ment of Taxes and Assessments. 

Waters and shores to be kept pure 

Water supply, see Chapter XI. page 50. 

Water works, issue of stock for 

Water sinking fund 

Workhouse, superintendent of, etc 


Sec. 

525 
476 

473 

• r 

526 
618 
511 

474 
242 

. 46 


1,562 

178 

205 

708 



ft 


[O. 85 of our Library Series, “BUILDING AND HEALTH LAWS,” which 
appeared in June, 1903, is a book which deserves considerable mention. 
Great care has been taken in its compilation and special efforts were 
made to make the book complete. No expense was spared to aid us in 
obtaining the necessary information. The book is issued on the same broad 
lines that characterize our other Libraries, and has been thoroughly revised by 
departmental officials. Every fact relating to buildings in New York City can 
be found in this Library. The book is made up of the 


Health Laws 

Regulations 

Affecting the City of New York 


The Tenement House Act; The Building Code; 
The Sanitary Code; Charter Provisions; Stat- 
utes and Rules Regulating Plumbing, Etc. 



An important feature is a specially prepared index referring to the Tenement 
House Law, the new Sanitary Code and the Charter Provisions. There are 
also indices to each chapter. It is a book of over a hundred pages and sells for 
25 cents a copy. For sale by all newsdealers and at all Eagle offices. 


181 


AMENDMENTS 

TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF 

NEW YORK. 

Adopted by the Legislature of 1904* 


CHAPTER 90. 

Remedies limited. 

Sec. 958. No suit or action in the nature of 
a bill of equity or otherwise shall be com- 
menced for the vacation of any assessment 
in said city, or to remove a cloud upon title; 
but owners of property shall be confined to 
their remedies in such cases to the proceed- 
ings under this title. It shall be lawful, 
however, for the comptroller, acting under 
the written advice of the corporation coun- 
sel, to compromise and settle claims for as- 
sessments for local improvements heretofore 
confirmed and interest thereon, and pay- 
ments made in accordance with the terms of 
such settlements shall be in the nature of 
accord and satisfaction, and no action shall 
be maintainable to recover back amounts 
thus paid. It shall also be lawful for the 
comptroller, by and with the advice and writ- 
ten consent of the corporation counsel, to 
cancel in writing and annul any and all void 
assessments for local improvements hereto- 
fore or hereafter confirmed. 

CHAPTER 250. 

The Jewish protectory an«l aid society. 

Sec. 230 is alnended so as to add to para- 
graph nine thereof, a new subdivision as fol- 
lows: 

14-a. To the Jewish protectory and aid so- 
ciety one hundred and ten dollars per an- 
num and proportionately for any portion of a 
year, for each person who shall be commit- 
ted to it, and maintained in its institutions. 

CHAPTER 71. 

I«I4I, ATIVE TO THE COLLECTION OF 

INSTALLMENTS OF ASSESSMENTS 
FOR LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS. 

Sec. 938. Where by any laws in force on 
December thirty-first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-seven, assessments for local improve- 
ments are made payable in installments or 
collectible in or with the tax levy of any 
year, said installments when levied from 
time to time, shall be collected by the collec- 
tor of assessments and arrears or by one of 
his deputies, under and pursuant to the laws 
relating to the collection of such assess- 
ments in force on said thirty-first day of 
December, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven and applicable thereto. 

CHAPTER 343. 

RELATIVE TO THE POWERS OF THE 

CHAMBERLAIN. 

Sec. 196. The said chamberlain and mayor 
and comptroller shall, by a majority vote, 
by written notice to the comptroller deeig- 


Index on Page 193 . 

nate the banks or trust companies, in which 
all moneys of the City of New York shall 
be deposited, and may, by like notice in 
.vriting, from time to time, change the banks 
and trust companies thus designated; but 
no such bank or trust company shall be 
designated unless its officers shall agree to 
pay into the city treasury interest on the 
daily balances at a rate to be fixed by the 
Mayor and Chamberlain and the said Comp- 
troller of the City of New York, by a ma- 
jority vote, which rate shall be so fixed 
quarterly, on the first days of February, 
May, August and November in each year, 
according to the current rate of interest 
upon like balances deposited in banks and 
trust companies in the City of New York 
by private persons and corporations. The 
said Chamberlain shall keep books showing 
the receipts of moneys from all sources, and 
designating the sources of the same, and 
also showing the amounts paid from time 
to time on account of the several appro- 
priations, and no warrants shall be paid on 
account of any appropriation after the 
amount authorized to be raised for that spe- 
cific purpose shall have been expended. The 
said chamberlain shall once in each week 
report in writing to the Mayor and to the 
Comptroller all moneys received by him, the 
amount of all warrants paid by him since 
his last report, and the amount remaining to 
the credit of the city. The Chamberlain 
shall receive the sum of twelve thousand 
dollars annually, and no more, for his serv- 
ices as Chamberlain of said city and as 
county treasurer of the County of New 
York in lieu of all salary and of all in- 
terest, fees, commissions and emoluments; 
and all such interest, fees, commissions and 
emoluments shall be accounted for and paid 
over by him to the city treasury, except 
that the commissions or compensation pro- 
vided by law, and received by him for re- 
ceiving and paying over state taxes, and 
all interest which accrue on deposits shall 
bo paid by him to the commissioners of the 
sinking fund. He may appoint and remove 
at, pleasure deputy chamberlains, and such 
clerks and assistance as may be necessary 
whose salaries, together with all the ex- 
penses of the office, shall be paid by the City 
of New York when fixed by the Board of 
Aldermen on the recommendation of the 
Board of Estimate and Apportionment. The 
chamberlain shall also have power to desig- 
nate in writing one of said clerks to act 
as warrant clerk, whose duty it shall be to 
sign warrants and to perform such other 
duties as may be required of him, under 
direction of the chamberlain. 

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect imme- 
diately. 


CHAPTER 274. 

RELATIVE TO THE SALE OF COR- 
PORATE STOCK. 

Sec. 182. Whenever any bonds or stock 
shall be hereafter issued, other than revenue 
bonds, or such bonds and stocks as may be 
purchased for investment by the commis- 
sioners of the sinking fund, the comptroller 
shall invite proposals therefor by public ad- 
vertisement, for not less than ten days and 
shall award the same to the highest bidder 
or bidders therefor; provided, that no pro- 
posals for bonds or stocks shall be accepted 
for less than the par value of the same; and 
said proposals shall only be publicly opened 
by the comptroller, in the presence of the 
commissioners of the sinking fund, or such 
of them as shall attend. It shall be a con- 
dition of sale of such bonds and stocks, 
and the advertisement calling for proposals 
therefor shall so declare, that every bidder 
may be required to accept a portion of the 
whole amount thereof bid for by him at £he 
same rate or proportional price as may be 
specified in his bid; and any bid which con- 
flicts with this condition shall be rejected; 
provided, however, that any bidder offering 
to purchase all or any part of the bonds of- 
fered for sale at a price at par or higher 
may also offer to purchase all or none of 
said bonds at a different price, and if the 
comptroller deems it to be in the interests 
of the city so to do, he may award the bonds 
to the bidder offering the highest price 
for all or none of said bonds; provided, 
however, that if the comptroller deems it to 
be in the interests of the city so to do, he 
may reject ail bids. Every bidder, as a 
condition precedent to the reception or con- 
sideration of his proposal, shall deposit with 
the comptroller a certified check, drawn to 
the order of said comptroller upon a solvent 
banking corporation, or a sum of money; 
such check or money to accompany the pro- 
posal to an amount to be fixed by the comp- 
troller not exceeding two and one-half per 
centum of the amount of the proposal. 
Within three days after the decision as to 
who is or are the highest bidder or bidders, 
the comptroller shall return all deposits 
made to the persons making the same, ex- 
cept the deposit made by the highest bidder 
or bidders, and if the said highest bidder or 
bidders shall refuse or neglect, within five 
days after service of written notice of the 
award to him or them, to pay to the city 
chamberlain the amount of the stocks or 
bonds awarded to him or them at their par 
value, together with the premium thereon, 
less the amount deposited by him or them, 
the amount or amounts of deposit thus made 
shall be forfeited to and retained by said 


182 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


city as liquidated damages for such neglect 
or refusal, and shall thereafter be paid into 
the sinking fund of the city of New York 
for the redemption of the city debt. 

CHAPTER 247. 

RELATIVE TO TAKING OF TESTIMONY 
BY THE COMPTROLLER. 

Sec. 149. The department of finance shall 
have control of the fiscal concerns of the 
corporation. All accounts rendered to or 
kept in the other departments shall be 
subject to the inspection and revision of 
the officers of this department. It shall 
prescribe the forms of keeping and render- 
ing all city accounts, and, except as herein 
otherwise provided, the manner in which all 
salaries shall be drawn, and the mode by 
which all creditors, officers and employes 
of the corporation shall be paid. All pay- 
ments by or on behalf of the corporation, 
except as otherwise specially provided, shall 
be made through the proper disbursing of- 
floor of the department of finance, on vouch- 
ers to be filed in said department, by means 
of warrants drawn on the chamberlain by 
the comptroller, and countersigned by the 
mayor. The comptroller may require any 
person presenting for settlement an ac- 
count or claim for any case whatever, 
against the corporation, to be sworn before 
him or before either of the deputy comp- 
ti oilers, touching such account or claim, 
and when so sworn, to answer orally as to 
any facts relative to the justness of such 
account or claim. Willful false swearing be- 
fore the comptroller or deputy comptrollers 
is perjury, and punishable as such. He shall 
settle and adjust all claims in favor of or 
against the corporation, and all accounts 
in which the corporation is concerned as 
debtor or creditor; but in adjusting and 
settling such claims, he shall, as far as 
practicable, be governed by the rules of 
law and principles of equity which prevail 
in courts of justice. No claim against the 
city or against any of the counties con- 
tained within its territorial limits, or pay- 
able in the first instance from moneys in 
the city treasury for services rendered or 
work done or materials or supplies furnished 
except (1) claims reduced to judgment, or (2) 
awards, costs, charges and expenses duly 
taxed or ordered paid in judicial proceed- 
ings, or (3) claims arising under the provi- 
sions of contracts made at public letting 
in the manner provided by section four 
hundred and nineteen of this act, or (4) 
claims settled and adjusted by the comp- 
troller, pursuant to the authority of this 
section, shall be paid unless an auditor of 
accounts shall certify that the charges 
therefor are just and reasonable; and, ex- 
cept as hereinabove otherwise provided, all 
contracts with the city or any of such coun- 
ties or with any. public officer acting in its 
or their behalf, shall be subject to such 
audit and revision by the department of 
finance. The power hereby given to settle 
and adjust such claims shall not be con- 
strued to authorize the comptroller to dis- 
puate the amount of any salary established 
by or under the authority of any officer or 
department authorized to establish the 
same, nor to question the due performance 
of his duties by such officer, except when 
necessary to prevent fraud. If in any ac- 
tion at law against the city of New York 
to recover upon a claim not embraced with- 
in the exception hereinabove numerically 
specified, the amount claimed by the plain- 
tiff is in excess of the amount as audited 


and settled by the department of finance, 
the plaintiff must establish his claim "by 
competent evidence of value, and no testi- 
mony shall be admitted to show a promise 
or agreement hy any officer or employe of 
the city or of any of the counties contained 
within its territorial limits, to pay any 
larger sum than the amount so audited or 
allowed by the department of finance. The 
comptroller shall not reduce the rate of in- 
terest p£)on any taxes or assessments below 
the amount fixed by law. No contract here- 
after made, the expense of the execution 
of which is not by law or ordinance, in 
whole or in part, to be paid by assessments 
upon the property benefited, shall be bind- 
ing or of any force, unless the comptroller 
shall endorse thereon his certificate that 
there remains unexpended and unapplied, as 
herein provided, a balance of the appro- 
priation or fund applicable thereto, sufficient 
to pay the estimated expense of executing 
such contract, as certified by the officer 
making the same. But this provision shall 
not apply to work done, or supplies fur- 
nished, not involving the expenditure of 
more than one thousand dollars, unless the 
same is required by law to be done by con- 
tract at public letting. It shall be the duty 
of the comptroller to make such endorse- 
ment upon every such contract so presented 
to him, if there remains unapplied and un- 
expended such amount so specified by the 
officer making the contract, and to there- 
after hold and retain such sum to pay the 
expense incurred until the said contract 
shall be fully performed. And such endorse- 
ment shall be sufficient evidence of such 
appropriation or fund in any action. The 
comptroller shall furnish to each head of 
department, monthly, a statement of the 
unexpended balances of the appropriation 
for his department. Wages and salaries, 
except as otherwise provided in this act, 
may be paid upon payrolls, upon which 
each person named thereon shall separately 
receipt for the amount paid to such person, 
and in every case of payment upon a pay- 
roll the warrant for the aggregate amount 
of wages and salaries included therein may 
be made payable to the superintendent, 
foreman or other officer designated for the 
purpose. The comptroller shall enter into, 
upon behalf of the city of New York, any 
lease authorized by the commissioners of 
the sinking fund of property leased to the 
city. The assent of the comptroller shall 
be necessary to all agreements hereafter en- 
tered into by any city officer, board, com- 
mission or department for the acquisition hy 
purchase of any real estate or easement 
therein, when such an agreement involves 
an obligation to pay or an expenditure of 
any money on behalf' of the city, and in 
any proceedings that may Hereafter be had 
to acquire real estate or hereditaments fer 
or on behalf of the corporation of the city 
of New York, before an award shall be 
confirmed, imposing an obligation upon the 
city to pay any moneys, the comptroller 
shall have thirty days’ notice in writing, 
stating before whom and at what time such 
proceeding will take place; but nothing 
hereinbefore contained shall affect the board 
of rapid transit railroad commissioners ex- 
isting under chapter four of the laws of 
eighteen hundred and ninety-one as amend- 
ed. The comptroller of the city of New 
York shall be elected and hold office as 
provided in this act, and shall receive an an- 
nual salary of fifteen thousand dollars, and 
shall account to and pay into the city 
treasury all fees and emoluments to which 


he may be entitled under the general tax 
law of the state of New York and all other 
statutes, whether general or special. 

CHAPTER 341. 

RELATIVE TO TRIALS AND CHARGES 
AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE POLICE 
FORCE. 

Sec. 300. The police commissioner is au- 
thorized and empowered to make, adopt and 
enforce rules, orders and regulations for the 
government, discipline, administration and 
disposition of the police department and po- 
lice force and the members thereof. He shall 
have power and is authorized to adopt rules 
and regulations for the examination, hear- 
ing, investigation and determination of 
charges made or preferred against any mem- 
ber or members of the said police force, but 
no member or members of the police force 
except as otherwise provided in this chap- 
ter shall be fined, reprimanded, removed, 
suspended or dismissed from the police force 
until written charges shall have been made 
or preferred against him or them, nor until 
such charges have been examined, heard aan 
investigated before the police commissioner 
or one of his deputies, upon such reasona- 
ble notice to the member or members 
charged, and in such manner of procedure, 
practice, examination and investigation as 
the said commissioner may, by rules and 
regulations, from time to time prescribe. 
The police commissioner shall designate two 
places for the trial of members of the police 
force upon charges, one of said places for the 
boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx and Rich- 
mond, and the other of said places for the 
boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The trial 
of any member of the police force upon 
charges shall be held in the place of trial 
designated by the police commissioner as 
the place for the trial of charges for the 
borough within which the accused member 
was serving at the time the charge was pre- 
ferred. Any member of the police force who 
may hereafter become insane or of unsound 
mind, so as to be unable or unfit to perform 
full police service or duty, may be removed 
and dismissed from the police force by the 
commissioner. 

CHAPTER 358. 

RELATIVE TO THE POLICE DEPART- 
MENT. 

Sec. 289. The police commissioner is au- 
thorized to increase the police force by 
adding to the number of patrolmen from time 
to time, provided the board of estimate aand 
apportionment and the board of aldermen 
shall have previously made an appropriation 
for that express purpose. The board of es- 
timate and apportionment and the board of 
aldermen may include in the annual budget 
from year to year, and the comptroller shall 
certify, as required by law, to the board of 
aldermen and the board of aldermen shall 
include in the annual tax levy an amount 
sufficient to provide for the compensation 
of the additional patrolmen authorized to 
be appointed pursuant to the provisio ns of 
thi6 section. 

CHAPTER 362. 

CONCERNING THE SIPPORT OF POOR 
PERSONS BY RELATIVES ANB OF 
BASTARD CHILDREN. 

Sec. 683. The grandparents, parents, chil- 
dren and grandchildren of sufficient abil- 
ity, of a poor person who is insane, blind, 
old, lame, impotent or decrepit, so as to 
be unable by work to maintain himself, and 
the grandparents and parents of a destt- 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


183 


tute child, must at their own charge relieve 
and maintain him in the manner to be ap- 
proved by the commissioner. If the relative 
of a poor person of sufficient ability fails 
to maintain and relieve him, as in this sec- 
tion provided, the said commissioner may 
apply to any city magistrate, or any court 
of record having jurisdiction of the defend- 
ant, for an order to compel such relief, and 
the proceedings to be taken to make such 
an order, and the enforcement thereof, shall 
be the same and in like manner as those 
provided in sections six hundred and eighty- 
five and six hundred and eighty-six of chap- 
ter four hundred and sixty-six of the laws 
of nineteen hundred and one. 

Sec. 2. Section six hundred and ninety- 
one of said chapter is hereby amended to 
read as follows: 

Sec. 691. If at any time after an order of 
filiation in bastardy proceedings shall have 
been made, and an undertaking given there- 
on, in accordance with the provisions of this 
act and of the code of criminal procedure 
such undertaking shall not be complied with, 
or that for any reason a recovery thereon 
cannot be had, or if the original undertak- 
ing shall have been complied with, and the 
sureties discharged therefrom, or if money 
were deposited in lieu of bail, and the same 
shall have been exhausted, and the bastard 
of any county, city or town, or the commis- 
sioner of public charities, where the bastard, 
for whose support the order of filiation was 
made, shall be at the time, may, upon proof 
of the making of the order of filiation, the 
giving of the above mentioned undertaking, 
and the noncompliance therewith, or that 
the sureties have been discharged from 
their liability, or that for any reason a re‘ 
covery cannot be had on such undertaking, 
apply to the court in such county, city or 
town, having jurisdiction in bastardy pro- 
ceedings, for a warrant for the arrest of the 
defendant against whom such order of filia- 
tion was made, which shall be executed in 
the manner provided in the code of criminal 
procedure for the execution of the warrant; 
upon the arrest and arraignment of the de- 
fendant the said court, upon proof of the 
making of the order of filiation, the giving 
of the above mentioned undertaking, and the 
non-compliance therewith, or that for any 
reason a recovery cannot be had on such un- 
dertaking, shall make an order requiring 
him to give a new undertaking in the manner 
provided in subdivision one of section eight 
hundred and fifty-one of the code of crimin- 
al procedure for giving an undertaking on 
conviction, or upon his failure to so give a 
new undertaking, shall commit him in the 
manner provided in section eight hundred 
and fifty-two of said code of criminal pro- 
cedure. 

CHAPTER 369. 

RELATIVE TO PERSONS PRETENDING 
TO BE CITY MARSHALS. 

Sec. 1430. No person, not a marshal of 
the city of New York, shall hold himself 
out to the public as being a marshal or as 
being in any way authorized to act as a 
marshal or to perform the duties of a mar- 
shal; and no person, not a marshal shall ex- 
hibit any sign with the words “marshal’s 
bureau” thereon or any other words or 
terms whereby the public may be led to 
believe that he is a city marshal or author- 
ized to act as such, or that his office is the 
office of a city marshal. No city marshal 
shall knowingly permit any person not a 
city marshal to perform any act in his 
name, or to sign or use his name in the per- 
formance of any act which can only bea 


performed by a city marshal in person. Any 
person violating any of the provisions of 
this section shall be guilty of a misde- 
meanor, punishable by imprisonment for a 
term not exceeding one month, or by a fine 
not exceeding two hundred dollars for each 
offense. 

CHAPTER 370. 

RELATIVE TO CESSIONS OF STREETS. 

Sec. 992. The owners of land and of all 
the estate therein embraced within the lines 
of any street laid down and shown on the 
map or plan of the city of New York, and 
comprising all the land within said lines 
in an entire block in extent, may, without 
compensation and at their own expense, 
convey all their right, title and interest 
therein, providing the same shall be free 
from incumbrances inconsistent with the 
title to be acquired by the city, to the city 
of New York, and upon the delivery of such 
conveyances to the corporation counsel of 
said city with the money necessary to record 
such conveyances, and affidavits made by all 
such owners to the effect that the persons 
making them, are the owners of the estates 
in such lands so conveyed by them, respect- 
ively, and stating their interests, and that 
such estates in such lands are free of all 
incumbrances, except as aforesaid, together 
with abstracts of title and complete 
searches, if desired by such corporation 
counsel, it shall be the duty of such cor- 
poration counsel to examine such convey- 
ances and papers, and if such title shall not 
be rejected for good cause, by such cor- 
poration counsel, he shall cause the said 
conveyances to be recorded in the office in 
which conveyances of real estate are re- 
corded in the county in which such lands 
are located within sixty days after their 
delivery to him, and file them with the comp- 
troller of such city, and thereupon the city 
of New York shall become vested with the 
title to said lands to the same effect and 
extent as if they had been acquired by a 
proceeding taken for the opening of that 
portion of said street; after the making and 
acceptance of such conveyances, no pro- 
ceedings to open the lands so conveyed shall 
be taken or maintained, nor shall the lands 
fronting on that portion of the street so 
conveyed, and extending to the «enter of 
the block on either side of such portion ot 
said street so conveyed, be chargeable with 
any portion of the expense of opening the 
residue or any portion of the residue of 
such street, except the due and fair pro- 
portion of the awards that may be made 
for buildings as aforesaid. In all cases 
where such a street, laid down and shown 
on said map or plan, shall extend an un- 
bioken distance of more than two hundred 
feet between two cross streets, any con- 
tinuous portion thereof not less than two 
hundred feet in length shall be deemed to 
be an entire block in extent, within the pur- 
view and meaning of this section. 

CHAPTER 375 

IN RELATION TO THE IlOARD OF 
TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS AND 
THE ADOPTION OF A COM- 
MON SEAL BY' SAID BOARD. 

Sec. 886. All of the rights, powers and 
duties heretofore devolved by law upon the 
board of taxes and assessments in the city 
of New York, upon the department of assess- 
ments of the city of Brooklyn, and upon like 
departments, boards or officers of taxes and 
isessments other than for street improve- 


ments in the other municipal and public cor- 
porations or parts of municipal and public 
corporations consolidated by this act with 
the municipal corporation known as the 
i mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the 
city of New York, are hereby devolved, un- 
less otherwise herein expressly provided, 
upon and vested in the board of taxes and 
assessments in the city of New York. The 
said board of taxes and assessments in the 
city of New York is hereby authorized to 
adopt a common seal. Copies of all books 
and papers duly filed in the office of the de- 
partment of taxes and assessments, and 
transcripts thereof, and of the records of the 
proceedings of the board of taxes and as- 
sessments, certified to by one of the com- 
missioners of taxes and assessments, or by 
one of the deputy commissioners of taxes 
and assessment, or by the secretary of the 
board of taxes and assessments, and under 
the common seal of the board of taxes and 
assessments, shall be admissible in evidence 
In all courts and places in the same mannei 
and for the same purposes as books, papers 
or documents similarly authenticated by the 
clerk of a county. 

CHAPTER 396. 

RELATING TO THE APPEARANCE IN 
LITIGATION OF THE CORPORA- 
TION COUNSEL AND ASSIST- 
ANTS. 

Sec. 256. The corporation counsel may ap- 
point, and at pleasure remove, as many as- 
sistants to the corporation counsel as are 
necessary to the discharge of the duties of 
the law department, and he may appoint 
and at pleasure remove such clerks, assist- 
ants and subordinates as are requisite to 
the discharge of the business of the depart- 
ment, giving to his appointees such titles or 
designations as he may deem appropriate for 
their services, respectively. Any assistant 
corporation counsel shall, in addition to his 
other powers, possess every power and per- 
form all and every duty belonging to the 
office of the corporation counsel, or so much 
of such duties as the corporation counsel 
shall deem it necessary to delegate whenever 
so empowered by said corporation counsel by 
written authority, designating therein a 
period of time, not extending beyond three 
months, nor beyond the term of office of said 
corporation counsel, during which such power 
and authority may be exercised; such desig- 
nation and authority must be duly filed and 
remain on record in the law department, and 
may be revoked at any time. Neither the 
corporation counsel nor any of his assistants 
shall appear as attorney or counsel in any 
action or litigation except in the discharge 
of his official duties, nor except an appoint- 
ment as referee or receiver in any action or 
proceeding, but the corporation counsel may 
in his discretion appear or direct any of his 
assistants so to do In any action or pro- 
ceeding, criminal or civil, brought against 
any officer, subordinate or employe in the 
service of the city of New York, or of any 
of the counties embraced therein, by reason 
of any acts done or omitted while in the per- 
formance of his duty by such officer, subor- 
dinate or employe, whenever said appear- 
ance is requested by the head of the depart- 
ment, office or bureau, in which said officer, 
subordinate or employe is employed. 

CHAPTER 399. 

IN RELATION TO WHO MAY SHARE IN 
THE RELIEF FUND. 

Sec. 791. The trustee of the relief fund 
is authorized and empowered, from time to 


184 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


time,' to pay a pension out of said relief 
fund to the widow, child or children or de- 
pendent parent or parents of any deceased 
officer or member of the uniformed force 
of the said fire department, if the death 
of such officer or member occur during 
his service in the said uniformed 
force, or after he was retired from 
service in the said uniformed force; pro- 
vided, that the amount of any such pension 
to be paid by the said trustee to each of the 
several representatives of such officer or 
member as aforesaid (in case there shall be 
more than one), may be, from time to time, 
determined by the said trustee according to 
the circumstances of each case, and that 
such pension may be ordered to cease and 
terminate at any time if, in the opinion of 
the trustee, the circumstances should war- 
rant the same; and further provided, that 
not more than three hundred dollars shall 
be paid in any one year to the representa- 
tive or representatives of such officer or 
member, and that no part of such sum shall 
be paid to any such widow who shall marry 
again, after her remarriage, or to any child 
after it shall have reached the age of eighteen 
(sixteen) years. In case any officer or any 
regular or probationary member of the uni- 
formed force of said department is here- 
after killed while actually engaged in the 
performance of duty, or if death ensues as 
the immediate effect of injuries received, 
the trustee of said relief fund shall have 
the power to award to the widow of such 
officer or member an annual allowance as a 
pension, to be paid out of the said relief 
fund, in an amount not to exceed one-half 
of the salary or compensation of such of- 
ficer or member at the date of his decease, 
and in the case of a probationary member in 
an amount not to exceed one-half the salary 
or compensation of a fourth grade member. 
It such officer or member dying leaves no 
widow surviving him, but leaves a child or 
children, under the age of eighteen years, 
or dependent parent or parents, the said 
trustee shall have the power to award to the 
legal guardian of such child or children, or 
dependent parent or parents, for its or their 
support and maintenance, an annual allow- 
ance out of said relief fund, in amount not to 
exceed one-half of the salary or allowance of 
such officer or member at the date of the 
decease. The amount of such annual allow- 
ance to any widow shall not exceed the sum 
of one thousand dollars, and shall cease 
upon her death or remarriage, or if she shall 
have been guilty of conduct which, in the 
opinion of said trustee, renders further pay- 
ment inexpedient. The amount of such an- 
nual allowance to any one such child, or de- 
pendent parent or parents, shall not exceed 
the sum of five hundred dollars, and in every 
case such payment shall cease upon the death 
or marriage of such child, or upon its reach- 
ing the age of eighteen years. If such pay- 
ment to the widow of any such officer or 
member shall cease by reason of her death, 
remarriage or misconduct, the said trustee 
shall have power to make payments to the 
child or children or dependent parent 
or parents of such officer or mem- 
ber, if any, as though he had died 
without leaving a widow surviving him. 
The widows and orphans and retired mem- 
bers of the Brooklyn fire department, or of 
any other fire department of any of the 
municipal and public corporations or parts 
thereof hereby consolidated, shall be en- 
titled to receive from the fire department 
pension fund herein created the amounts 
which they would respectively have been 


legally entitled to receive on the thirty-first 
day of December, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-seven, from any fire department pen- 
sion or relief fund heretofore existing in 
any of said municipal corporations or parts 
thereof. 

CHAPTER 409. 

RELATIVE TO THE POWERS OF THE 
BOARD OF ALDERMEN. 

Sec. 47. The board of aldermen shall have 
power to provide by ordinance for the ac- 
quisition, construction, or establishment of 
markets; for the acquisition and construc- 
tion of parks, parkways, playgrounds, boule- 
vards and driveways; for the building of 
bridges over, and of tunnels under any 
stream or waterway within or adjoining the 
limits of the city; for the building of docks, 
wharves, or piers, and for acquiring land 
by purchase or condemnation for said pur- 
poses; for acquiring, constructing, improv- 
ing. permanently bettering and equipping 
public buildings, including school houses 
and sites therefor for the use of the city; 
for the repaving of streets; for building, 
repairing and equipping coats and vessels 
or other floating craft of any kind that may 
be needed for the use and purposes of the 
city; for the establishing, building and 
equipping of telegraph or other systems of 
communication for the use and purposes of 
the- police department and other depart- 
ments of the city government; for the con- 
struction and equipment of public comfort 
stations; for the making and completing 
of maps of all the territory embraced with- 
in each of the boroughs of said city; and 
foi any of the foregoing purposes, may 
create loans and authorize the issue of 
bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness, 
to pay for the same, payable at such time, 
and in such manner, and at such rates of in- 
terest as it may by ordinance prescribe; but 
no bonds or other evidences of indebtedness 
shall be issued under the authority of this 
section, unless the proposition for creating 
such debt shall first be approved by a ma- 
jority vote of the whole board of estimate 
and apportionment, entered on the minutes 
of record of such board. In addition to the 
specific purposes hereinbefore set forth, the 
board of aldermen may also create loans and 
authorize the issue of bonds for any other 
purpose connected with the exercise of the 
various powers conferred by this act upon 
the City of New York or any department or 
official thereof; provided, however, that no 
bonds or other evidences of indebtedness 
shall be issued for such additional purposes 
unless first approved by a unanimous vote of 
the board of estimate and apportionment, 
entered upon the minutes of record of said 
board. 

CHAPTER 413. 

RELATING TO COMMISSIONER OF 
DEEDS. 

Sec. 58. The board of aldermen is hereby 
authorized and is empowered to appoint 
commissioners of deeds from time to time, 
who shall hold their offices for two years 
from the date of their appointment; such ap- 
pointment shall not require the approval of 
the mayor, and hereafter, at the time of sub- 
scribing or filing the oath of office of the city 
clerk shall collect from each person appoint- 
ed a commissioner of deeds the sum of five 
dollars, and he shall not administer or file 
said oath unless said fee has been paid. The 
city clerk shall appoint an officer, to be 
known as commissioner of deeds clerk. 


whose duties shall be to enter the names of 
commissioners of deeds appointed, in a book 
kept for that purpose, make out certificates 
of appointment and to discharge such other 
duties as the city clerk may designate. Said 
commissioner of deeds clerk shall receive a 
salary at the rate of twelve hundred dollars 
per annum, payable monthly. Any person 
hereafter appointed to the office of commis- 
siner of deeds in and for the City of New 
York by the board of aldermen, before en- 
tering upon the discharge of the duties of 
said office and within thirty days after such 
appointment, shall take and subscribe before 
the commissioner of deeds clerk, in the of- 
fice of the city clerk, the following oath of 
office: That the applicant is a citizen of the 
United States and of the State of New York, 
and a resident of the City of New York; 
that he will support the constitution of the 
UDited States and the constitution of the 
State of New York, and faithfully discharge 
the duties of the officer of commissioner of 
deeds. Any commissioner of deeds who may 
remove from the City of New York during 
his term of office is hereby required to notify 
the city clerk of such removal. Any person 
appointed to the office of commissioner of 
deeds under the provision of this section 
upon qualifying as above provided may take 
acknowledgments and administer oaths in 
any part of the City of New York, without 
filing a certificate of his appointment in the 
offi.ii*: of the clerk of the county in which 
he resides or in which the borough in which 
the acknowledgment is taken or the oath 
administered is situated, and all papers so 
acknowledged or verified shall be recorded 
or read in evidence without any further 
proof in all the boroughs of the City of New 
York. The city clerk upon the request of 
any commissioner appointed under the pro- 
visions of this act must made and deliver to 
such commissioner a certificate under his 
hand and official seal, showing the appoint- 
ment and term of office of such commission- 
er, which certificate may be filed in the 
office of the clerk of the counties of 
New York, Kings, Queens and Richmond 
upon payment of six cents in each office 
tor filing. The clerks of the counties of 
New York, Kings, Queens and Richmond 
shall each keep a book in which shall be 
registered the signatures of the commission- 
ers so filing such certificate, and said clerks 
of the counties of New York, Kings, Queens 
and Richmond shall upon demand and upon 
payment of the sum of twenty-five cents, 
authenticate a certificate of acknowledgment 
or proof or oath taken berore such a com- 
missioner of deeds, by subjoining or attach- 
ing to the original certificate of acknowl- 
edgment or proof or oath, a certificate 
under his hand and official seal specifying 
that at the time of taking the acknowledg- 
ment or proof, the officer taking it was duly 
authorized to take the same; that the au- 
thenticating officer is acquainted with the 
former’s handwriting, or has compared the 
signature to the original certificate with 
that deposited in his office by such officer, 
and that he verily believes the signature to 
the original certificate is genuine, and if 
the original certificate is required to be 
under seal, he must also certify that lie has 
compared the impression of the seal affixed 
thereto with the impression of the seal of 
the officer who took the acknowledgment or 
proof deposited in his office, and that he 
verily believes the impression of the seal 
upon the original certificate to be genuine, 
without regard to the county in which said 
acknowledgment w r as taken or oath admin- 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER 4F THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


istered, provided that said county be wholly 
within the City of New York, or if it be 
partly within the City of New York, that the 
acknowledgment was taken or oath admin- 
istered in that portion of said county which 
is included within the boundaries of the City 
cf New York. Any instrument or paper 
acknowledged before a commissioner within 
the City of New York and certified by the 
clerk of the county of New York, Kings, 
Queens or Richmond, as hereinbefore pro- 
vided, shall be recorded and read in evi- 
dence in any county of this state without 
further proof. The term of office of every 
commissioner of deeds who, on the first day 
of May, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, 
shall be holding over after a term of two 
years, shall then cease. 

The mayor of the City of New York may 
remove any commissioner of deeds appointed 
under the provisions of this section for causo 
shewn; but no such commissioner shall be 
removed until charges have been duly made 
against him to the said mayor and the said 
commissioner shall have had an opportunity 
to answer the same. At any proceedings 
held before the said mayor for the removal 
of such commissioner of deeds, the said 
mayor shall have power to subpoena wit- 
nesses and to compel the attendance of 
the same, and to administer oaths, and 
to compel the production of books and 
papers, and upon the termination of 
such proceedings, shall make his deci- 
sion thereon in writing, and cause the same 
to be filed in the office of the city clerk of 
the City of New York. In case the said 
commissioner shall be removed from office, 
the said city clerk shall immediately upon 
the receipt by him of the order of removal 
signed by the mayor, cause the name of the 
said commissioner so removed to be 
stricken from the roll of commissioner of 
deeds of said city. No person who has been 
removed from office as a commissioner of 
deeds for the City of New York, as herein- 
before provided, shall thereafter be eligible 
again to be appointed as suen commissioner, 
nor shall he be eligible thereafter for ap- 
pointment to the office qI notary public. 
Any person who has been removed from 
office as aforesaid, who shall, after knowl- 
edge of such removal, sign or execute any 
instrument as a commissioner of deeds or 
notary public, shall be deemed guilty of a 
misdemeanor. 

CHAPTER 455. 

RELATIVE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF 
DOCKS AND FERRIES. 
Platforms, Sheds, Stands, Etc., for the 
Wholesale Fish Trade. 

Sec. 871. The lessee of any wharves, piers, 
bulkheads, slips, land under water or other 
wharf property, to whom leases have been 
or may hereafter be granted for the use 
of the wholesale fish trade, may erect and 
maintain thereon during the terms of any 
such leases or any renewals thereof, such 
platforms, sheds, stands or other structures, 
suitable to the business of the wholesale 
fish trade as may be approved by the com- 
missioner of docks. 

Sec. 2. Section eight hundred and forty- 
six of the Greater New York charter is 
hereby amended to read as follows; 

Storehounes, Booths, Shops, Etc., on 
Sheds not Authorized. 

Sec. 846. Nothing in the two preceding 
sections contained shall be construed to 
authorize the erection or maintenance on 
any pier of any storehouses, booths, shops. ' 


or other structures than the sheds men- 
tioned in the last section but one, with the 
proper doors and gates appertaining thereto, 
nor to impair any powers conferred upon 
the commissioner of docks, except as pro- 
vided by said section, and except as. pro- 
vided by section eight hundred and seventy- 
cue of the Greater New York charter. 

CHAPTER 457. 

RELATIVE TO THE BOARD OF CITY 
RECORD. 

Section 1526. There shall be published 
daily, Sundays and legal holidays excepted, 
under a contract to be made as hereinafter 
provided, a paper to be known as the City 
Record. And said City Record, and the 
newspapers now by law designated as cor- 
poration newspapers in the present city of 
rooklyn, shall be the only papers to be 
included within the term corporation news- 
papers as the same is used anywhere in this 
act; but no notice of advertisement shall bt 
inserted in any of said newspapers now bj 
law designated as corporation newspapers in 
said city of Brooklyn, except such as respect 
matters occurring within or relating to the 
borough of Brooklyn exclusively, and the 
aggregate amount to be paid to said news- 
papers now designated by law as corporation 
newspapers, in said city of Brooklyn, for the 
publication of all advertisements provided 
for by this act, shall never exceed in anyyear 
the sum now agreed to be paid to said news- 
papers annually of said city of Brooklyn. 

‘ he mayor, corporation counsel and comp- 
troller shall constitute the board of city 
record. Said board, by a majority vote, shall 
appoint a proper person together with such 
assistants as may be required, to supervise 
the preparation and publication of the same 
and they shall also fix rates of compensa- 
tion of said supervisor and his assistants, 
^li the expenses connected with its publi- 
cation and distribution, except the salary of 
the person appointed to supervise the same, 
and the salaries of his assistants, shall be 
covered by a contract for printing!, to be 
made in the same manner as other con- 
tracts. The board of estimate and appor- 
tionment shall provide for all the necessary 
expenses of conducting the said City Record. 
There shall be inserted in said City Record 
nothing aside from such official matters as 
are expressly authorized. The contract for 
the publication of the City Record shall pro- 
vide for furnishing, free of charge, to the 
city of New York, not more than two thou- 
sand copies thereof; also for a gratuitous 
distribution to every newspaper regularly 
printed in the city of New York, when it 
shall apply for the same, of two copies, and 
to every public library or public institution 
in said city which shall apply for the same, 
of one copy. Copies of the same shall be 
sold by the supervisor at a price to be fixed 
by the officers making the contract, and the 
proceeds thereof shall be paid over to the 
city. All advertising required to be done for 
the city, except as in this act otherwise spe- 
cially provided, and all notices required by 
law or ordinances to be published in cor- 
poration papers, shall be inserted, at the 
public expense, only in the City Record, and 
a publication therein shall be a sufficient 
compliance with any law or ordinance re- 
quiting publication of such matters or' no- 
tices; but there may be inserted in two 
morning and two evening, and two weekly 
or semi-weekly papers published in the 
English language, and in one paper published 
in the German language, and in one paper 
published in the French language, all in 
said city to be designated at any time 


by said . board of city record, brief 
advertisements, calling attention to any 
contracts intended to be awarded or 
bonds to be sold, and referring for full 
information to said City Record; said desig- 
nation of such newspaper to continue in 
effect until another or different designation 
shall be made by said board. Where such 
notices and advertisements respect matters 
occurring within or relating to the Borough 
of Brooklyn, they shall also be published in 
such newspapers as are now by law desig- 
nated as corporation newspapers in the City 
o£ Brooklyn, the rates of payment therefor 
not to exceed the compensation now paid 
to said newspapers for like advertisements 
i’J the City of Brooklyn or County of Kings. 
In case, however, of the sale of bonds or 
stocks of said city or of any real estate be- 
longing to the city, such advertisement may 
also be inserted in such other newspapers 
published in said city as said board may de- 
termine in the case of each sale. But noth- 
ing herein contained shall prevent the publi- 
cation elsewhere of any advertisement re- 
quired by law; provided, however, that no 
such publication shall be made unless the 
same_ is authorized by concurrent vote of 
the members of said board. No money shall 
be paid from the city treasurer, and no ac- 
tion shall be maintained and no judgment 
obtained against the City of New York, as 
constituted by this act, for any advertising 
done after April 30, 1873, except such as is 
therein authorized or such as at the time this 
act takes effect is a lawful charge against a 
municipal or public corporation or part 
thereof, hereby consolidated with the mayor, 
aldermen and commonalty of the City of New 
York. The copies of the City Record fur- 
nished to the city shall be distributed to the 
several departments and officers and to such 
persons and in such manner as the board of 
city record shall direct. The comptroller 
shall cause a continuous series of the City 
Record to be bound as completed quarterly, 
and to be deposited with his certificate 
thereon, in the office of the register of deeds 
of the County of New York, in the county 
clerk’s office of said county, and in the office 
of the city clerk, and copies of the contents 
of any part of the same, certified by such 
register, county clerk or city clerk, shall 
be received in judicial proceedings as prima 
facie evidence of the truth of the contents 
thereof. 

CHAPTER 512. 

ULATIVE TO THE POLICE PENSION 
FUND. 

Sec. 354. The police commissioner shall 
have power in his discretion to retire and 
dismiss from membership from the said po- 
lice force and thereupon to grant pensions 
to and hereinafter provide any member of 
the police force of said city who shall have 
become disabled physically or mentally or 
superannuated by age so as to be unfit for 
police duty and to widows and orphans of 
such members to be paid from police fund as 
follows: 

1. To the widow of any member of police 
force within the limits of said city who shall 
have been killed while in the actual per- 
formance of his duty or shall have died from 
the effects of any injury received whilst in 
the actual discharge of such duty or who has 
died or who shall hereafter die after ten 
years of such service in any police force 
within the limits of the City of New York 
as constituted by this act or who shall have 
been retired upon a pension if there be no 
child or children under eighteen years of age 
of any such member the sum of not less than 


186 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


three hundred dollars per annum, nor more 
than six hundred dollars per annum, in the 
discretion of said commissioner, but if there 
be any such child or children of such member 
under the age aforesaid, then the said sum 
may be divided between such widow, child 
or children in such proportions and in such 
manner as the said trustees may direct; pro- 
vided, however, that the foregoing provision 
shall not be applicable to the widow, child 
or children of any member of police force 
within the limits of said city who shall 
have been killed or died prior to the taking 
effect of this act, unless such widow, child 
or children who have been entitled to a 
pension under the laws in force at that time, 
and provided further that in no event shall 
such widow, child or children receive a 
greater pension than she, it or they would 
have been entitled to under the laws in force 
Immediately prior to the taking effect of this 
act. 

2. Subject to the like limitations, to any 
child or children under eighteen years of age 
of such member killed or dying as aforesaid 
or pensioner as aforesaid, but leaving no 
widow, or, If a widow, then after her death 
to such a child or children being yet under 
eighteen years of age, a sum not exceeding 
tLree hundred dollars per annum. 

i eject to the like limitations, to an/ 
such member of any such police force who, 
v.hilst in the actual performance of duty, 
and by reason of the performance of such 
duty and without fault or misconduct on his 
part, shall have become permanently dis- 
abled, physically or mentally so as to be 
unfitted to perform full police duty, a sum 
not exceeding one-half nor less than one- 
fourth of his rate of compensation per an- 
num. 

4. To any such member or the police force 
who shall, after ten years, and less than 
twenty-five years’ membership in any such 
police force, become superannuated, by age, 
permanently insane or mentally incapaci- 
tated, or disabled physically or mentally, so 
as to be unfitted or unable to perform full 
police duty by reason of such disability or 
disease contracted without misconduct on 
his part, a sum not to exceed one-half nor 
less than one-fourth of his rate of compensa- 
tion per annum. 

CHAPTER 532. 

CONCERNING THE GIVING OF NEW SE- 
CURITY AFTER CONVICTION IN 
ABANDONMENT PROCEEDINGS. 

Sec. 690. Upon the recovery of a bond given 
by the defendant upon conviction in abandon- 
ment proceedings as prescribed in section 
six hundred and eighty-six; or upon proof 
by affidavit by the commissioner that h« 
has caused diligent efforts to be made to 
serve personally upon a surety on such bond, 
a summons in an action brought thereon for 
a default in the terms thereof, but has been 
unable to effect service upon such surety; 
or that a recovery cannot be had thereon; or 
that the judgment obtained upon such bond 
remains wholly unsatisfied and unpaid; or 
that a surety has been adjudged a bank- 
rupt, the city magistrate then sitting in the 
court in which such bond was given may 
Issue a warrant for the arrest of the defend- 
ant, in whose behalf the bond was given, 
and require him to give new security, or in 
default thereof may commit him, under the 
original order and conviction, in the man- 
ner prescribed in section six hundred and 
eighty-six; provided, however, that the total 
Imprisonment upon such order shall not ex- 
ceed six months in any year. 


CHAPTER 542. 

RELATIVE TO THE POWERS OF THE 
BOARD OF EDUCATION. 

Sec. 1069. The board of education shall, 
in addition to the other powers herein ex- 
pressly conferred, have power; 

1. To establish and conduct elementary 
schools, kindergartens, manual training 
schools, trade schools, truant schools, evening 
schools and vacation schools. 

2. To maintain free lectures and courses 
of instruction for the people of the City of 
New York. 

3. To provide special classes, whose ses- 
sions shall be held at such times in the 
day or evening as said board may deter- 
mine, for the purpose of giving instruction 
in the English language to persons who can- 
not use that language readily, and whose 
vocations are such as to prevent their at- 
tending the elementary or other schools in 
the school system. 

4. To provide one or more high schools and 
training schools or classes for teachers, as 
it may from time to time determine, and as 
the appropriations may permit. The said 
training schools or classes shall be under 
the control of the board of education and of 
the city superintendent of schools to the ex- 
tent that may be necessary to secure com- 
pliance with chapter one thousand and thirty- 
one of the laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-five. 

5. To establish and conduct playgrounds in 
connection with the public schools. 

6. To establish new schools and discon- 
tinue or consolidate any of the schools of 
the system. 

7. To enter into a contract or contracts, 
from time to time, subject, however, to the 
approval of the board of estimate and ap- 
portionment, with any street railway com- 
pany, operating in the City of New York, 
for the transportation of school children to 
and from any public school in the City of 
New York at special rates not to exceed one- 
half the usual or customary rate of fares 
charged by such street railway companies, 
and to pay for such transportation out of the 
special school fund. The board of estimate 
and apportionment is hereby authorized and 
empowered to appropriate and include in the 
annual budget such sum or sums of money 
as ma» be necessary for the purposes of this 
act. 

CHAPTER 577. 

IN RELATION TO THE RELIEF FUND 
OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

Section 1. Subdivision seven of section 
seven hundred and eighty-nine of the Greater 
New York charter, as re-enacted by chapter 
four hundred and sixty-six of the laws of 
nineteen hundred and one, is hereby amended 
so as to read as follows: 

7. Ten per centum annually of all excise 
moneys or license fees belonging to the City 
of New York, as constituted by this act, and 
derived or received by any commissioner of 
excise or public officer, from the granting of 
licenses, or permission to sell strong or spir- 
ituous liquors, ale, wine or beer, or of any 
moneys paid for taxes upon the business of 
trafficking in or selling or dealing in strong 
or spirituous liquors, ale, wine or beer in 
the boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn and the 
Bronx under the provisions of any law of 
this state authorizing the granting of any 
such license or permission; and four and one- 
half per centum annually of such excise 
moneys or license fees which are likewise 
derived or received for the granting of li- 
censes or permission to sell strong or spiritu- 


ous liquors, ale, wine or beer in the boroughs 
of Queens and Richmond; the said ten per 
centum and the said four and one-half per 
ventum thereof to be paid by the comptroller 
of said city, who is hereby authorized and 
required to pay the same to the treasurer 
of the said relief fund, for the benefit thereof, 
without any action or authority of or from 
the board of estimate and apportionment, 
provided, however, that sum, in addition to 
the income of the said relief fund from all 
other sources, shall not be more than suf- 
ficient to enable the trustee of the New 
York fire department relief fund to meet in 
full all charges against said fund, without 
encroaching on the surplus or principal 
thereof as the same existed on the first day 
of January, nineteen hundred'and three. The 
commissioner of the fire department of the 
City of New York is hereby constituted and 
declared to be the trustee of the New York 
fire department relief fund, shall receive all 
moneys applicable to the same and deposit 
the same, as such trustee, to the credit of 
such relief fund, in banks or trust compa- 
nies to be selected by him, and continue to 
receive and deposit the funds applicable to 
the same, as received, to the credit of said 
fund, or to invest the same in bond and mort- 
gage on improved property worth twice the 
amount loaned, or in public stocks, as said 
trustee may deem most advantageous for the 
object of such fund, and said trustee is em- 
powered to make all necessary contracts, and 
to take all necessary remedies in the premi- 
ses. The treasurer of said fund shall give 
a bond, with one or more sureties, in the 
sum of one hundred thousand dollars, for the 
faithful performance of his duties, said bond 
to be approved by the comptroller and filed 
in his office. And the said trustee for and 
on behalf of the uses and purposes of said 
fund, shall be entitled to receive, and there 
shall be paid to him all duties, taxes, allow- 
ances, fines, penalties and fees to which the 
fire department of the City of New York, as 
at any time heretofore established, has been 
or is now entitled, except as in this act 
otherwise specially provided, and the said 
trustee may take, by gift, grant, devise or 
bequest, any money, real or personal prop- 
erty, right of property or other valuable 
thing the annual income of which shall not 
exceed thirty thousand dollars in the whole; 
and in any year, when the condition of said 
relief fund shall render it, in the judgment 
of the said trustee, necessary, he may re- 
ceive from the board of estimate and appor- 
tionment of the City of New York, a sum not 
exceeding ten thousand dollars, to be in- 
cluded in the annual estimate of the fire 
commissioner and drawn and collected by 
him in like manner as the other moneys 
applicable to his expenses; and such amount^ 
so obtained shall, in like manner, be paid to 
and applied by the treasurer to the uses of 
said fund, by deposit or investment as here- 
inbefore provided, as the trustee thereof 
shall direct. 

CHAPTER 597. 

TO ALLOW PAYMENTS TO BE MADE 
ON ACCOUNT OF ASSESSMENTS 
LEVIED FOR LOCAL IM- 
PROVEMENTS. 

Sec. 1019. If any such assessment shall 
remain unpaid for the period of sixty days 
after the date of entry thereof on the said 
record of titles of assessments, it shall be 
the duty of the officer authorized to collect 
and receive the amount of such assessment 
to charge, collect and receive interest there- 
on, at the rate of seven per centum per 
annum, to be calculated to the date of pay- 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1004. 


18 


inent from the date when such assessment 
became a lien, as provided by section one 
hundred and fifty-nine of this act, pro- 
provided, however, that the officer authorized 
to collect and receive such assessment shall 
accept and credit as payments on account of 
assessments now or hereafter levied against 
any parcel or plot of property for local im- 
provements in the City of New York, such 
sums of money not less than fifty dollars 
or multiples thereof in amount as may be 
tendered for payment on account of any 
assessment now or hereafter levied for local 
improvements against any property. 

CHAPTER 599. 

IN RELATION TO QUALIFICATIONS OF 
PATROLMEN AND FIREMEN. 

Sec. 734. No person shall be appointed to 
membership in the fire department or con- 
tinue to hold membership therein, who is 
not a citizen of the United States, or who 
has ever been convicted of felony; nor shall 
any person be appointed who cannot read 
and write understandingly the English lan- 
guage, or who shall not have resided within 
the state one year immediately prior to his 
appointment, or who is not over the age of 
twenty-one and under the age of thirty years, 
except that after a person's name is placed 
on the eligible list, he may be appointed while 
his name continues on the same list, al- 
though meanwhile he may have attained such 
age. Every member of the uniformed force 
shall reside within the limits of the City of 
New York. 

CHAPTER 600. 

RELATIVE TO WATER RENTS. 

Sec. 473. The board of aldermen shall 
hereafter have all power, on recommenda- 
tion of the commissioner of water supplv 
gas and electricity, to fix and to establish 
a uniform scale of rents, and charges for 
supplying water by the city of New York, 
which shall be apportioned to different 
classes of buildings in said city in reference 
to their dimensions, value, exposures to 
fires, ordinary use for dwellings, stores, 
shop, private stables and other common 
purposes, number of families or occupants, 
o! consumption of water, as near as may 
be practicable, and modify, alter, amend 
and increase such scale from time to time, 
and to extend it to other descriptions of 
buildings and establishments. All extra 
charges for w r ater shall be deemed to be 
included in the regular rents, which shall 
become a charge and lien upon the build- 
ings which they are respectively imposed, 
and if not paid, shall be returned as ar- 
rears to the collector of assessments and 
arrears. Such regular rents, including the 
extra charges above mentioned, shall be 
collected from the owners or occupants of 
all such buildings, respectively, which shall 
be situated upon lots adjoining any street 
or avenue in said city in which the dis- 
tributing water pipes are or may be laid, 
and from which they can be supplied with 
water. Said rents, including the extra 
charges aforesaid, shall become a charge 
and lien upon such houses and lots, respect- 
ively, as herein provided, but no charge 
whatever shall be made against any build- 
ing in which a water meter may have been 
or shall be placed as provided in this act. 
In all such cases in which a water meTor 
may have been or shall be placed in any 
building as provided in this act, except as 
hereinafter provided, the charge for water 
shall be determined only by the quantity 
of water actually used as shown by said 
meters. 


CHAPTER 602. 

IN RELATION TO BUILDINGS IN THE 
CITY OF NEW YORK. 

Sec. 407. The board of aldermen is auth- 
orized by ordinance to regulate and restrict 
the height of buildings to be hereafter 
erected in the city. When any ordinance on 
that subject is introduced, the board of al- 
dermen shall provide for public hear- 
ings in reference thereto, before it or 
before appropriate committees; and no 
ordinance restricting the height of 
buildings shall be passed unless it is ap- 
proved beforehand by the board of esti- 
mate and apportionment by a resolution or 
vote of a majority of the members of such 
board entered on its minutes or record, and 
unless it shall be passed by a majority oi 
all the members elected to the board of al- 
dermen, the vote being taken by ayes and 
noes. The building code which shall be in 
force in the City of New York on the first 
day of January, nineteen hundred and two, 
and all then existing provisions of law fix- 
ing the penalties for violation of said code, 
and all then existing laws affecting or relat- 
ing to the construction, alteration or re- 
moval of buildings or other structures with- 
in the City of New York are hereby de- 
clared to be binding and in force in the City 
of New York, and shall continue to be so 
binding and in force except as the same 
may from time to time be revised, altered, 
amended or repealed as herein provided. 
No right or remedy of any character shall 
be lost or impaired or affected by reason 
of this chapter. This chapter shall not af- 
fect or impair any act done or right accru- 
ing, accrued or acquired or penalty, forfeit- 
ure or punishment incurred prior to the time 
when this act takes effect, or by virtue of 
any law repealed or modified by this chapter, 
but the same may be asserted, enforced, 
prosecuted or inflicted as fully and to the 
same extent as if this act had not been 
passed or said law had not been repealed 
or modified. The board of aldermen shall 
have power from time to time to amend 
said building code and said laws and to pro- 
vide therein for all matters concerning, af- 
fecting or relating to the construction, al- 
teration or removal of buildings or structures 
erected or to be erected in the City of New 
York, and for the purpose of preparing or 
amending such code to appoint and employ a 
commission of experts. But if the front or 
other exterior wall of any building now 
standing in said city shall extend not more 
than four inches upon the street or avenue 
known as Avenue A in said city, such wall 
shall not be removable, unless an action or 
proceeding shall be instituted by or in behalf 
of the City of New York within the period 
of one year from the passage of this act, 
for the removal of said wall, and notice of 
pendency of such action or proceeding be 
thereupon filed in the office of the clerk of 
the county in the City of New York where 
the property affected by such action, suit or 
proceeding, is located, and indexed against 
the owner. 

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect imme- 
diately. 

CHAPTER 618. 

IN RELATION TO THE ACQUISITION OF 
LAND FOR CEMETERIES IN 
QUEENS COUNTY. 

Acquisition of land for cemeteries In 

Queens County. 

Sec. 1539a. A person, association or 
sorporation shall not take by deed, de- 
vise or otherwise anyy land in the County 


of Queens for cemetery purposes, or set 
apart any ground for cemetery purposes in 
such county, unless the consent of the Board 
of Aldermen of the City of New York be first 
obtained, which board may grant such con- 
sent upon such conditions, regulations and 
restrictions as, in its judgment, the public 
health or the public good may require. No- 
tice of application to any such board for 
such consent shall be published once a 
week for six successive weeks in two news- 
papers of the county having the largest 
circulation therein, stating the time when the 
application will be made, a brief descrip- 
tion of the lands proposed to be acquired, 
their location and the quantity thereof. If 
such consent is granted the applicant may 
take and hold the lands designated in such 
consent, which shall not authorize any one 
person, association or corporation to take 
or hold more than fifty acres, but a subse- 
quent application may be made in like man- 
ner for the acquisition of an additional 
quantity of land not exceeding fifty acres. 

Sec. 2. The act shall take effect imme- 
diately. 

CHAPTER 624. 

IN RELATION TO SUITS OR PROCEED- 
INGS FOR THE COLLECTION OF 
DELINQUENT PERSONAL 
TAXES. 

Sec. 934. The court in which any suit or 
proceeding may be commenced to enforce the 
payment of any tax for personal property, 
may, on motion of either party, dismiss the 
suit or proceedings absolutely without costs, 
or conditionally, upon the payment of costs, 
or may, on the facts, in its discretion, dis- 
miss such suit or proceedings on the payment 
of such part of the tax and costs as shall be 
just, in any case where it shall be satisfied 
that the person or persons taxed are unable 
for want of property, or other reason, to pay 
any tax or have an equitable defense to such 
suit or proceeding. In cases where any suits 
or proceedings shall be dismissed under this 
section, on payment of a portion of the tax, 
a copy of the order of the court shall be filed 
with the receiver of taxes, and a note of the 
contents of such order entered upon the as- 
sessment roll, and it shall be the duty of 
said counsel to report all cases dismissed on 
account of the inability of the person to pay 
the tax to the commissioner of taxes and as- 
sessments. annually, on the thirty-first day 
of December in each year; and said commis- 
sioner is hereby authorized to strike the 
names of all such persons from the assess- 
ment rolls for the succeeding year. All suits 
or proceedings for the collection of personal 
taxes sent to the corporation counsel by the 
receiver of taxes must be commenced within 
one year from the date of the return by the 
marshal of the warrant to enforce the pay- 
ment of such tax. 

Sec. 2. The time limit provided by this act 
within which suits or proceedings must be 
commenced shall not affect any suit or pro- 
ceeding that shall have been commenced prior 
to the first day of January, nineteen hundred 
and five. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect immedi- 
ately. 

CHAPTER 626, 

IN RELATION TO THE POLICE PEN- 
SION FUND. 

Police Pension Fund; Police Commis- 
sioner Trustee of; Powers Over. 

Sec. 351. The police commissioner shall be 
the trustee of the police pension fund here- 
inafter mentioned, and shall be treasurer 
of the pension fund. He shall, before en- 
tering upon his duties as treasurer thereof. 


188 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


execute and deliver to the comptroller of 
the City of New York, a bond in the peual 
sum of one hundred thousand dollars, to be 
approved by the comptroller of the City of 
New York, and conditioned for the faithful 
discharge of his duties, and that he shall pay 
over and account for all moneys and prop- 
erty which shall come into his hands, of such 
treasurer. Such trustee shall have charge 
of and administer said funds, and from time 
to time invest the same, or any part there- 
of, as he shall deem most beneficial to said 
fund, and he is empowered to make all 
necessary contracts and take all necessary 
and proper actions and proceedings in the 
premises, and to make payments from such 
fund of pensions granted in pursuance of 
chapter four hundred and sixty-six of the 
laws of nineteen hundred and one, and also 
pensions now charged on said fund or any 
part thereof, by or under existing laws, 
and said trustee shall be the legal successor 
of the trustee or trustees of the police life 
insurance fund, and of any police pension 
fund heretofore existing within the limits 
of the city of New York, as constituted by 
chapter four hundred and sixty-six of the 
laws of nineteen hundred and one, including 
the pension fund of the park police of the 
mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the City 
of New York, and the pension fund of the 
park police of the City of Brooklyn. The said 
trustee may, and he is authorized and em- 
powered, from time to time, to establish 
such rules and regulations for the disposi- 
tion, investment, preservation and adminis- 
tration of the police pension fund as he may 
deem best. He shall report in detail to the 
board of aldermen of the City of New York, 
annually, in the month of January, the condi- 
tion of the police pension fund and the items 
of receipts and disbursements on account of 
the same. No payments whatever shall be 
allowed or made by said trustee from said 
fund as reward, gratuity or compensation 
to any person for salary or services ren- 
dered to or for said trustee. On or before 
the first day of February of each year the 
trustee shall make a verified report to the 
mayor of his proceedings as such trustee, 
containing a statement of all receipts and 
disbursements on account of said fund, to- 
gether with the names and residences of each 
beneficiary and the amounts paid to such 
beneficiary for or on account of said fund. 
The bookkeeper of the police department 
shall have charge of the auditing of the 
accounts of said fund and be responsible to 
said trustee for the receipts and disburse- 
ments of all moneys that shall come into his 
hands for or on account of said fund, and he 
shall, from time to time, render said trus- 
tee a verified statement containing the names 
of all beneficiaries of said fund and the 
amounts paid them; and he shall immediately 
execute and deliver to said trustee a bond 
in the penal sum of ten thousand dollars to 
be approved by said trustee, and conditioned 
for the faithful discharge of his duties; and 
the provisions of section three hundred and 
fifty-five of chapter four hundred and sixty- 
six of the laws of nineteen hundred and one 
shall be applicable to said bookkeeper. 

There shall be an auditing committee con- 
sisting of three members, to be appointed by 
the mayor, as follows: Two members to be 
selected from among the officers and mem- 
bers of the uniform force of the police de- 
partment and one member to be selected 
from the retired members of the police de- 
partment. It shall be the duty of this com- 
mittee on or before the first day of March in 
each year to examine the condition of said 


relief fund and to audit the account of the 
said trustee. 

Sec. 2. Section three hundred and fifty- 
three of such act, as amended by chapter 
four hundred and thirty-seven of the laws 
of nineteen hundred and three, is hereby 
amended to read as follows: 

Sec. 353. The said police pension fund shall 
consist of: 

1. The capital, interest, income, dividends, 
cash, deposits, securities and credits for- 
merly belonging to the police life insurance 
fund, and any police pension fund, existing 
as aforesaid, with the addition thereto, from 
time to time, of 

2. All forfeitures imposed by the police 
department, from time to time, upon or 
against any member or members of the 
police force; and of 

3. All rewards, fees, gifts, testimonials 
and emoluments that may be presented, paid 
or given to any member of the police force 
on account of police services, except such 
as have been or shall be allowed by the 
police commissioner to be retained by the 
said members, and also all gifts or bequests 
which may be made to the said pension fund, 
or to the said police commissioner as trus- 
tee thereof. 

4 . All lost, abandoned, unclaimed, or 
stolen money remaining in the possession 
of the property clerk of the police depart- 
ment for the space of one year, and for 
which there shall be no lawful claimant, and 
all moneys arising from the sale by saio 
property clerk of unclaimed, abandoned, lost 
or stolen property, and all moneys realized 
derived or received from the sale of any con- 
demned, unfit or unserviceable property be- 
longing to or in the possession or under the 
control of the police department; and of 

5. All moneys, pay, compensation or sala- 
ry, or any part thereof forfeited, deducted or 
withheld from any member or members of 
the police force on account of absence for 
any cause, lost time, sickness or other dis- 
ability, physical or mental, to be paid 
monthly by the controller to the police pen- 
sion fund. 

6. The comptroller of the City of New York, 
or other person or officer having the legal 
custody thereof, is hereby authorized, em- 
powered and directed to pay in equal quar- 
terly installments to the police commis- 
sioner, as the trustee and treasurer of the 
oolice pension fund, without any further ac- 
.ion or authority of or from any other of- 
Icial body or officer, a sum, hereinafter pre- 
scribed, out of the shares of the excise 
moneys, as distributed under the provisions 
of section thirteen of chapter one hundred 
and twelve, laws of eighteen hundred and 
ninety-six, known as the liquor tax law, as 
amended by chapter three hundred and 
twelve, laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven; chapter three hundred and sixty- 
seven laws of nineteen hundred, and chap- 
ters one hundred and fifteen and four hun- 
dred and eighty-six of the laws of nine- 
teen hundred and three; which said excise 
moneys are derived from the granting of 
licenses or permission to traffic in or sell 
strong or spirituous liquors, ale, wine or beer 
within the limits of the boroughs of Man- 
hattan and the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and 
Richmond, as constituted by chapter three 
hundred and seventy-eight, laws of eighteen 
hundred and ninety-seven and re-enacted in 
chapter four hundred and sixty-six of the 
laws of nineteen hundred and one, said sums 
to be paid in the following proportions, 
namely: Boroughs of Manhattan and the 
Bronx, three hundred thousand dollars; bor- 
ough of Brooklyn, one hundred thousand 


dollars; borough of Queens, fifteen thousand 
dollars. 

7. All moneys received or derived from the 
granting or issuing of permits to carry pis- 
tols in said city, and no permit shall be 
granted or issued to any person except upon 
the payment of two dollars and fifty cents 
in advance to the police commissioner, nor 
shall any such permit continue in force for 
more than one year, when another may be 
issued from year to year upon the payment 
of a like sum. The commissioner of police 
is authorized to grant and issue permits for 
such purpose in proper cases upon the pay- 
ment of the sum aforesaid, and all such 
moneys shall be paid into the police pension 
fund. 

8. All moneys received or derived from the 
granting or issuing the permits, or the giv- 
ing of permission to give masked balls, en- 
tertainments or parties, or either of them, 
in the City of New York. No masquerade or 
fancy dress ball or other entertainment, 
shall be held, given or permitted in the City 
of New York, except upon condition that a 
license fee therefor of not less than five 
dollars nor more than one hundred dollars 
shall first be paid to the police department, 
who are authorized to demand and receive 
the same for the benefit of the police pen- 
sion fund. 

9. A sum of money equal to but not great- 
er than two percentmm of the monthly pay, 
salary or compensation of each member of 
the police force, which sum shall be deduct- 
ed monthly by the comptroller from the pay, 
salary or compensation of each and every 
member of the police force and the said 
comptroller is hereby authorized, empowered 
and directed to deduct the said sum of money 
as aforesaid and forthwith to pay the same 
to the treasurer and trustee of the police 
pension fund. 

10. Any and all other moneys and funds 
which, but for the passage of this act, would 
have been part of or applicable to any po- 
lice pension fund at the time this act takes 
effect or thereafter within the limits of the 
City of New York as constituted by chapter 
three hundred and seventy-eight, laws of 
eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, and re- 
enacted in chapter four hundred and sixty- 
six of the laws of nineteen hundred and one. 

11. And any and all unexpended balances 
of appropriation or amounts estimated, lev- 
ied, raised or appropriated for the payment 
of salaries or compensation of members of 
the police force within said City of New 
York remaining unexpended or unapplied 
after allowing all claims payable therefrom. 
And the controller is hereby authorized and 
directed to pay over to the police pension 
fund such unexpended balances or any part 
thereof, at any time after the expiration of 
the year for which the same were made and 
appropriated, and after allowing sufficient to 
satisfy all claims payable therefrom as 
aforesaid. 

12. In case the amount derived from the 
different sources mentioned and included in 
this section shall not be sufficient at any 
time to enable the police commissioner to 
pay in full the pensions which have been or 
which may hereafter be granted, it shall 
be the duty of the police commissioner each 
year at the time of making up the depart- 
mental estimate, to prepare a full and de- 
tailed statement of the assets of said police 
pension fund and the amount which is re- 
quired to pay in full all such pensions and to 
present the same to the board of estimate 
and apportionment, together with a state- 
ment of the amount of money required to 
enable the said commissioner to pay the said 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


189 


pensions in full. It shall he the duty of said 
board of estimate and apportionment and 
the board of aldermen to make an appro- 
priation sufficient to provide for such de- 
ficiency and the amount so appropriated shall 
be included in the tax levy, and the comp- 
troller shall pay over the money to the police 
commissioner. 

13. And the said police commissioner is 
hereby authorized and empowered to take 
and hold as trustee of such fund, any and 
all gifts or bequests which may be made to 
such fund. 

CHAPTER 627, 

RELATIVE TO THE CLASSIFICATION 
AND INSTRUCTION OF CRIMINALS 
AND MISDEMEANANTS. 

Sec. 698. It shall be the duty of the com- 
missioner to cause all the criminals and mis- 
demeants under his charge to be classified 
so far as practicable, so that youthful and 
less hardened offenders shall not be rendered 
more depraved by the association with and 
evil example of older and more hardened 
offenders. The commissioner may establish 
and maintain such schools or classes for the 
instruction and training of the inmates of 
the institution under his charge, as may be 
authorized by the board of estimate and 
apportionment. And to this end the com- 
missioner may set apart one or more of the 
penal institutions for the custody of such 
youthful and less hardened offenders, and 
said commissioner shall have the power, in 
his discretion, to transfer such offenders 
thereto and from any other of the penal in- 
stitutions of the city and when so transferred 
to classify such offenders so far as practica- 
ble with regard to age, nature of offense, or 
other fact, and to separate or group such 
offenders according to such classification, so 
far as practicable. The institution now 
established for youthful offenders on Hart’s 
island in the City of New York, by the de- 
partment of correction of said city, shall be 
continued and shall be known, after the first 
day of January, nineteen hundred and five, 
as “The New York City reformatory of mis- 
demeanants,” and such other buildings and 
appurtenances may from time to time be 
built or used for the purposes herein men- 
tioned, as may be authorized by the board of 
estimate and apportionment. After January 
first, nineteen hundred and five, any male 
person between the ages of sixteen and 
thirty, who after conviction by any magis- 
trate or any court of or in the City of 
New York of any charge, offense, misde- 
meanor or crime, other than a felony, shall 
in the discretion of such magistrate or 
court be a proper subject for reforma- 
tory treatment, may be committed to 
said New York city reformatory for 
misdemeanants and in order that such per- 
son may have the full benefit of the reforma- 
tory and educative influences of said institu- 
tion any aforesaid magistrate or court im- 
posing sentence shall not fix or limit the 
duration thereof. The term of such impris- 
onment of any person so convicted and sen- 
tenced shall be terminated by the board of 
parole of said reformatory as authorized by 
this act; but such imprisonment shall not 
exceed the term of three years. The com- 
missioner of correction of the City of New 
York, a justice of the court of special ses- 
sions of the City of New York, of the first 
division, a justice of the court of special 
sessions of the City of New York, of the 
second division, a city magistrate of the 
City of New York, of the first division, a 
city magistrate of the City of New York, of 
the second division, and four other persons 


to be appointed by the mayor of the City 
of New York shall constitute a board of 
parole of the said New York city reforma- 
tory for misdemeanants. The said board of 
parole shall serve without compensation and 
shall be appointed or selected as follows; 
Within sixty days after the passage of this 
act the mayor shall appoint the four per- 
sons above referred to who shall hold office 
until the first day of February, nineteen hun- 
dred and six, but who shall be removable at 
any time at the pleasure of the mayor. 
Within sixty days after the passage of this 
act the justices of the court of special ses- 
sions, of the first division, shall meet and 
elect one of their number to be a member 
of said board of parole by a vote of a ma- 
jority of all of the said justices which said 
election shall be evidenced by the certificate 
of the clerk of the said court filed in the 
office of the clerk of the City of New York. 
Within sixty days after the passage of this 
act, the justices of the court of special ses- 
sions of the second division, and the city 
magistrates of the first division and the city 
magistrates of the second division shall 
meet and in like manner shall elect one of 
their number to be a member of the afore- j 
said board of parole. The election to mem- 
bership upon said board of parole of a jus- 
tice of the court of special sessions of the 
second division shall be evidenced by the 
certificate of the clerk of said court filed 
in the office of the clerk of the City of New 
York, and the election of a city magistrate 
of each division to be a member of said board 
of parole shall be evidenced by the certificate 
of the clerk of the boards of city magis- 
trates of the first and second divisions re- 
spectively filed in the office of the clerk of 
the City of New Yorlf. Each of said jus- 
tices and city magistrate*! shall serve upon 
said board of parole until February first, 
nineteen hundred and six, or until his suc- 
cessor is elected. In the month of January, 
nineteen hundred and six, the successors of 
the nine persons above referred to shall be 
appointed or elected in the manner above 
set forth as the case may be, and shall take 
office on the first day of February, nineteen 
hundred and six, and shall serve until the 
first day of February following, and there- 
after the above mentioned members of the 
board of parole shall be annually appointed 
or elected as the case may be in the month of 
January in each year, and serve until the first 
day of February of the following year or un- 
til their successors are appointed or elected. 
The person who at any time is the commis- 
sioner of correction of the City of New York 
shall by virtue of his office be a member of 
said board of parole. The board of parole 
of said reformatory shall have the power 
to parole and discharge any inmate of such 
institution and shall make rules not incon- 
sistent with law: 

1. Prescribing the conditions under which 
the inmates may be discharged, paroled or 
conditionally released; 

2. Regulating the retaking and reimpris- 
onment of such inmates. 

Such rules shall be adopted by the resolu- 
tion of the board of parole passed at a meet- 
ing thereof, at which a majority of its mem- 
bers shall be present. All rules adopted 
and enforced shall be printed and a copy 
thereof distributed to each officer, employe 
and inmate of said reformatory. The board 
of parole of such reformatory shall adopt a 
uniform system by means of which shall be 
determined the conduct and merit of each 
inmate sentenced to such reformatory, as 
I the condition of increased privileges, or of 


release from their control, which system shall 
be subject to revision from time to time. 
Each inmate shall be credited for good per- 
sonal demeanor, diligence in labor and study, 
development of character, and for the results 
accomplished and be charged for dereliction, 
negligence and offenses. Each inmate’s 
standing in merit and conduct shall be made 
known to him as often as once in each month. 
The board of parole shall make rules by 
which each inmate shall be permitted to 
see and converse with some member of tho 
board of parole at stated periods. When it 
appears to the board of parole that there is 
a strong or reasonable probability that any 
inmate will remain at liberty without violat- 
ing the law, and that his release is not in- 
compatible with the welfare of society, 
they shall issue to such inmate an absolute 
release or discharge from imprisonment. 
Nothing; hesfcin contained shall be construed 
to impair the power of the governor to grant 
a pardon or commutation in any case. If 
through oversight or otherwise a person 
be sentenced to imprisonment in the re- 
formatory for a definite period of time, such 
sentence shall not, for that reason be void, 
but the person so sentenced shall be enti- 
tled to the benefits and subject to the lia- 
bilities of this act, in the same manner and 
to the same extent as if such sentence had 
been made for an indefinite period of time 
in the manner provided by the penal code. 
The board of parole may appoint and at 
Pleasure remove suitable persons in any 
part of the state who shall supervise paroled 
inmates and perform such other lawful 
duties as may be required of them by such 
board. Such persons shall be subject to the 
direction of the board. They may be paid a 
reasonable compensation for their services 
and expenses, to be fixed in the manner pro- 
vided by law, which said sum or sums shall 
be a charge upon and paid from the funds 
of or to the credit of the said reformatory. 
T “ e -comptroller Q f the City of New York 
shall from time to time, when authorized 
by the board of estimate and apportionment, 
and without the concurrence or approval of 
any other board or public body, prepare and 
issue corporate stock of the City of New 
York for the purpose of providing for any 
paying out such sums of money as may be 
necessary to establish and maintain the 
said reformatory in accordance with the 
provisions of this act. Nothing in this act 
contained shall be deemed in any manner 
to change or impair any of the provisions of 
the penal code or of the code of criminal 
procedure, the intent of this act being to 
confide to the discretion of the magistrates 
and courts of or in the City of New Yotfk, 
after the first day of January, nineteen hun- 
dred and five, th e right to commit male per- 
sons between the ages of sixteen and thirty, 
as hereinbefore set forth, to the said re- 
formatory. 

Sec. 2. Except a® herein otherwise spe- 
cifically provided, this act shall take effect 
immediately; and except further that in the 
borough of Queens it shall not take effect 
until January first, nineteen hundred and 
seven. 

CHAPTER 628. 

RELATIVE TO THE CODE OF ORDIN- 
ANCES. 

The People of the State of New York, rep- 
resented in Senate and Assembly, do enact 
as follows: 

Section 1. Section six hundred and ten of 
the Greater New York charter, as re-enacted 
by chapter four hundred and sixty-six of the 


190 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


laws of nineteen hundred and one, is hereby 
amended to read as follows: 

Sec. 610. The board of aldermen shall by 
general ordinances from time to time estab- 
lish all needful rules and regulations for 
the government and protection of the public 
parks and of all property placed in charge 
of the park and under its control by the 
provisions of this chapter, and the same 
shall at all times be subject to all such 
ordinances as to the use and occupation 
thereof and in respect to any erections or 
encumbrances thereon. The park board 
shall have power to establish and enforce 
general rules and regulations for the ad- 
ministration of the department, and, sub- 
ject to the ordinances of the Board of Al- 
dermen, to establish and enforce rules and 
regulations for the government and protec- 
tion of the public parks and of all property 
in charge of said board or under its con- 
trol, which rules and regulations so far as 
practicable shall be uniform in all the 
boroughs. All ordinances, rules and regula- 
tions of the park board which on the first 
day of January, nineteen hundred and two, 
shall be in force in the City of New York, 
are hereby continued in full force and ef- 
fect until modified or repealed by the es- 
tablishment of new ordinances, rules or reg- 
ulations as herein provided. The rules and 

regulations for the government and protection 

of the public parks and of all property in 
charge of the said board or under its con- 
trol, which are in force May first, nineteen 
hundred and four, shall, together with the 
ordinances adopted by the board of aider- 
men, constitute a chapter of the code of 
ordinances of the City of New York. On or 
before the fifteenth day of May, nineteen 
hundred and four, the secretary of the park 
board shall file with the city clerk all of 
such rules and regulations which were in 
force on May first, nineteen hundred and 
four, and upon filing of the same, they shall 
thereby become general ordinances of the 
City of New York. No such rule or regula- 
tion adopted by the park board subsequent 
to May first, nineteen hundred and four, 
shall become valid and effectual until a copy 
of such rule or regulation, duly certified to 
be a correct copy by the secretary of the 
park board, be filed with the city clerk. 
Upon so filing such rule or regulation shall 
become a general ordinance of the City of 
New York. Any person violating any or- 
dinances relating to the parks or other 
property mentioned in this section shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor and shall on con- 
viction before a city magistrate be pun- 
ished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars, or 
in default of payment of such fine by im- 
prisonment not exceeding thirty days. 

Sec. 2. Section four hundred and seven of 
the Greater New York charter as re-enacted 
by chapter four hundred and sixty-six of the. 
laws of nineteen hundred and one is hereby 
amended to read as follows: 

Sec. 407. The board of aldermen ig au- 
thorized by ordinance to regulate and re- 
strict the height of buildings to be hereafter 
erected in the city. When any ordinance on 
that subject is introduced, the board of al- 
dermen shall provide for public hearings in 
reference thereto, before it or before ap- 
propriate committees, and no ordinance re- 
stricting the height of buildings shall be ( 
passed unless it is approved beforehand by 
the board of estimate and apportionment 
by a resolution or vote of a majority of the 
members of such board entered on its 
minutes or record, and unless it shall 
be passed by a majority of all the 


members elected to the Board of Aldermen, 
the vote being taken by ayes and noes. The 
building code which shall be in force in the 
City of New York on the first day of Janu- 
ary, 1902, and all then existing provisions 
of law fixing the penalties for violation of 
said code, and all then existing laws affect- 
ing or relating to the construction, alter- 
ation or removal of buildings or other struc- 
tures within the City of New York are here- 
by declared to be binding and in force in 
the City of New York, and shall continue to 
be so binding and in force except as the 
same may from time to time be revised, al- 
tered, amended or repealed as herein pro- 
vided. No right or remedy of any character 
shall be lost or impaired or affected by rea- 
son of this chapter. This chapter shall not 
affect or impair any act done or right ac- 
cruing, accrued or acquired or penalty, for- 
feiture or punishment incurred prior to the 
time when this act takes effect or by virtue 
of any law repealed or modified by this 
chapter, but the same may be asserted, en- 
forced, prosecuted or inflicted as fully and 
to the same extent as if this act had not 
been passed or said law had not been re- 
pealed or modified. The Board of Aldermen 
shall have power from time to time to amend 
said building code and said laws to provide 
therein for all matters concerning, affect- 
ing or relating to the construction, altera- 
tion or removal of buildings or structures 
erected or to be erected in the City of New 
York, and for the purpose of preparing or 
amending such code to appoint and employ a 
commission of experts. The said building 
code which is in force May first, 1904, shall 
constitute a chapter of the code of ordi- 
nances of the City of New York. 

Sec. 3. Section eleven hundred and sev- 
enty-two of the Greater New York Charter 
as re-enacted by chapter four hundred and 
sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred and 
one, is hereby amended to read as follows: 

Section 1172. The sanitary code which 
shall be in force in the City of New York 
the first day of January, nineteen hun- 
dred and two, and all existing pro- 
visions of law fixing penalties for vio- 
lations of said code are hereby declared 
to be binding and in force in the City of 
New York, and shall continue to be so bind- 
ing and in force, except as the same may, 
from time to time, be revised, altered, 
amended or annulled as herein provided. Pro- 
vided, however, that so much of this section 
as declares the sanitary code, binding and 
in force in the City of New York shall not 
be construed as limiting the storage of 
fertilizers or the keeping and slaughtering 
of fowls, cattle and other domestic animals 
upon premises used for farming in unim- 
proved sections of the city, or as forbidding 
the ordinary use of country roads in driv- 
ing such fowls, cattle and other domestic 
animals. Said board of health is hereby 
authorized and empowered, from time to 
time, to add to and to alter, amend or annul 
any part of the said sanitary code and may 
therein publish additional provisions for the 
security of life and health in the 
City of New York, and confer addition- 
al powers on the department of 
health, not inconsistent with the constitu- 
tion or laws of this state, and may provide 
for the enforcement of the said sanitary 
code by such fines, penalties, forfeitures or 
imprisonment as may by ordinance be pre- 
scribed. The board of health may em- 
brace in said sanitary code all matters and 
subjects to which, and so far as, the power 
and authority of said department of health 
extends, not limiting their application to 


the subject of health only. Any violation 
of said sanitary code shall be treated and 
punished as a misdemeanor. Pecuniary 
penalties for violation of said sanitary code 
may be recovered in a civil action in the 
name of the department of health of the 
City of New York, before any justice or 
tribunal in said city, having jurisdiction of 
civil actions: and all such justices and tri- 
bunals shall take jurisdiction of such action. 
Copies of the records of the proceedings of 
said board of health, of its rules, regula- 
tions, bylaws and books and papers consti- 
tuting part of its archives, and now or here- 
after in force in said city, when authenti- 
cated by its secretary or secretary pro 
tempore, shall be presumptive evidence, and 
the authentication taken as presumably cor- 
rect in any court of justice, or judicial pro- 
ceeding, when they may be relevant to the 
point or matter in controversy, of the facts, 
statements, and recitals, therein contained. 
The sanitary code which is in force May 
first, nineteen hundred and four, shall con- 
stitute a chapter of the code of ordinance 
of the City of New York. On or before the 
fifteenth day of May, nineteen hundred and 
four, the secretary of the said board of 
health shall file with the city clerk such 
sanitary code which was in force on May 
first, nineteen hundred and four, and upon 
the filing of the same it shall become a gen- 
eral ordinance of the City of New York. No 
amendment to said code adopted by the 
board of health subsequent to May first, 
nineteen hundred and four, shall become 
valid and effectual until a copy of such 
amendment, duly certified to be a correct 
copy by the secretary of the board of 
health, be filed with the city clerk. Upon 
so filing, such amendment shall become a 
part of said sanitary code. 

This act shall take effect May first, nine- 
teen hundred and four. 

CHAPTER 676. 

TO CONFER POWER UPON THE BOARD 
OF ESTIMATE AXD APPORTIONMENT 
TO ACQUIRE LANDS IN CERTAIN 
PARTS OF THE CITY OF NEW 
YORK FOR PLAYGROUNDS 
AND TO PROVIDE FOR 
THE IMPROVEMENT 
THEREOF, 

Sec. 244. The board of estimate and appor- 
tionment shall have power to select, locate 
and lay out, without the consent or approval 
of any other board or officer sites for play 
grounds in that part of the borough of 
Brooklyn, bounded as follows: Northerly by 
Division avenue; easterly by Lee and Bed- 
ford avenues; southerly by Greene avenue, 
and westerly by Washington avenue. When 
a site has been so selected, located and laid 
out the board of estimate and apportion- 
ment shall cause three maps or plans of the 
same to be made, one of which shall be 
filed in the register’s office in the county 
of New York, one with the clerk of the board 
of estimate and apportionment, and one in 
the office of the president of the borough of 
Brooklyn, and the map or plan of the City of 
New York shall be deemed to have been 
changed accordingly without any further act 
or proceeding by or on the part of the City 
of New York, or of any officer, board or de- 
partment thereof. The comptroller, with the 
approval and authorization of the board of 
estimate and apportionment may purchase 
at private sale and upon such terms as may 
be agreed upon with the owner of the lands 
so laid out or any part thereof; or the board 
of estimate and apportionment may, in its 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


191 


discretion, authorize and direct the corpora- 
tion counsel to take proceedings to acquir» 
title to the lands thus selected, located and 
laid out or any part thereof. As soon as 
title to the said lands shall have been ac- 
quired the same shall be within the jurisdic- 
tion of the department of parks and it shall 
be the duty of the said department to im- 
mediately improve the said lands for the 
purpose of a public play ground upon plans 
to he submitted to and approved by the board 
of estimate and apportionment. In order to 
provide means for the payment of the ex- 
penses of acquiring title to the said lands, 
corporate stock of the City of New York 
shall be authorized to be issued by the board 
of estimate and apportionment without the 
concurrence or approval of any other board 
or public body, to an amount not exceeding 
three hundred thousand dollars in any one 
year; and in order to improve the said lands 
for the purposes of play grounds, upon ap- 
plication of the department of parks, cor- 
porate stock of the City of New York shall 
be authorized to be issued by the board of 
estimate and apportionment, without the 
concurrence or approval of any other board 
or public body to an amount not exceeding 
fifty thousand dollars in any one year. 

CHAPTER 683. 

RELATING TO THE UNIFORMED FORCE 
OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

Sec. 740. The ranks and salaries of officers 
of the fire department shall be as follows; 

Chief of department, whose annual salary 
shall be not more than six thousand dollars; 
deputy chiefs of department, whose annual 
salary shall be not more than four thousand 
two hundred dollars; battalion chiefs, whose 
annual salary shall be not more than three 
thousand three hundred dollars; medical of- 
ficers, whose rank and salary shall be the 
same as that of battalion chiefs; captains or 
foremen of companies, whose annual salary 
shall be not more than two thousand one 
hundred and sixty dollars; lieutenants or as- 
sistant foremen of companies, whose annual 
salary shall be not more than eighteen hun- 
dred dollars; engineers of steamers, whose 
annual salary shall be one thousand six 
hundred dollars. 

From and after January first, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-eight, the uniformed 
members of the fire department who are 
firemen shall be divided into four grades, 
to wit, first, second, third and fourth, and 
shall receive an annual pay or compensation 
as follows: Members of the first grade, four- 
teen hundred dollars; members of the sec- 
ond grade, twelve hundred dollars; members 
of the third grade, one thousand dollars; 
members of the fourth grade, eight hundred 
dollars. The members of the uniformed force 
who are appointed after January first, eigh- 
teen hundred and ninety-eight, shall be as- 
signed to the fourth grade; after one year 
of service in the fourth grade they shall 
be advanced to the third grade; after one 
year of service in the third grade, they shall 
be advanced to the second grade; after one 
year of service in the second grade, they 
shall be advanced to the first grade, 
and they shall in each instance receive 
the annual pay or compensation of the 
grade to which they belong as herein pro- 
vided. All persons who, when this act takes 
effect, are firemen in the uniformed force of 
the fire department of the corporation here- 
tofore known as the mayor, aldermen and 
commonalty of the City of New York, or of 
the City of Brooklyn, or of the corporation 
heretofore known as Long Island City, shall 


thereupon become firemen of that grade hav- 
ing a salary thereto attached equal to the 
salary or compensation paid to such fire- 
men, respectively, at the time of the taking 
effect of this act; provided, however, that 
any such fireman who has been a member 
of the uniformed force in the City of Brook- 
lyn or in Long Island City, whose salary 
falls between any two of the grades hereby 
established, shall within three years have 
his salary made equal to the salary of the 
first grade by equal annual additions. Noth- 
ing in this section contained shall be con- 
strued to change in any way the salaries or 
grading, present or prospective, of the fire- 
men who are or shall become members of 
the uniformed force of the New York fire 
department prior to January first, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-eight; and nothing in 
this section contained shall be construed to 
affect in any other way than as provided 
herein the rights and privileges secured un- 
der the provisions of this act to uniformed 
members of the various fire departments con- 
solidated into one department by this act. 
The pay or compensation of the officers of 
the fire department and each of them men- 
tioned in the first paragraph of this section, 
and also the pay or compensation of district 
engineers and officers ranking as such, and 
of any other officers who, when this act takes 
effect, belong to the uniformed force of either 
of the fire departments hereby consolidated 
into one department, shall be and remain 
fixed at the amount which they and each 
of them were severally receiving or entitled 
to receive from the respective municipal cor- 
porations in whose employ they were prior 
to the taking effect of this act, provided, 
however, that the salaries of all such officers 
in either of said fire departments other than 
the New York department, so consolidated 
into one department, shall be made equal 
to the salaries^ of corresponding officers in 
said New York department within three years 
from January first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight, by equal annual additions; and 
provided further that if the difference in 
the pay received by such officers and the 
pay received by corresponding officers of 
the New York fire department as heretofore 
existing, is not more than fifty dollars, when 
this act takes effect, the pay shall be equal- 
ized at once. 

The pay or compensation aforesaid shall 
be paid monthly to each person entitled 
thereto, subject to such deductions each 
month from the pay or compensation of said 
persons as are or shall be authorized by law 
or by this act; and no pay or compensation 
shall be allowed or paid to any such fireman 
or officer, except as in this section provided 
for and declared, any other law to the con- 
trary or otherwise notwithstanding. 

CHAPTER 684. 

IN RELATION TO THE COMPENSATION 
OF THE CHAPLAINS OF THE 
FIRE DEPARTMENT. 

Compensation of Chaplains of Fire De- 
partment. 

Section 742. The chaplains of the fire 
department shall each receive such annual 
salary not exceeding ?1,000 as may be fixed 
by the board of estimate and apportionment 
in its discretion. For the purpose of paying 
such salaries during the current year, if the 
same are fixed or provided for by said board, 
the comptroller may cause the revenue bonis 
of the city to be issued in an amount suffi- 
cient therefor. 


CHAPTER 700. 

RELATING TO VOLUNTEER FIRE DE- 
PARTMENT. 

Sec. 722. The officers and members of the 
uniformed force and legally appointed fire- 
men in the corporation formerly known a» 
the mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the 
City of New York, and in the City of Brook- 
lyn and in the City of Long Island City 
are hereby made members of the fire depart- 
ment of the City of New York, as here- 
by constituted, and shall be assigned to duty 
therein by the fire commissioner, with the 
rank and grade as now held by them respect- 
ively, as nearly as practicable. The paid 
fire department system shall, as soon as 
practicable, be extended over the boroughs 
of Queens and Richmond, by the fire commis- 
sioner, and thereupon the present volunteer 
fire department now maintained therein 
shall be disbanded. Any real property and 
likewise any apparatus, equipment or other 
personal property owned or used by said 
volunteer forces which may be deemed use- 
ful or necessary for the use of the fire de- 
partment, shall, upon the extension of the 
paid system to the boroughs of Queen 3 and 
Richmond respectively, be purchased by the 
fire commissioner at the reasonable value 
thereof. In the meantime, and until the 
said paid fire department shall be extended 
over said territory as herein provided, said 
volunteer fire companies shall continue to 
discharge the duties for which they have 
been associated or incorporated, and said 
companies shall receive from the city such 
sums as are now awarded them by the 
village or towns in which they are re- 
spectively located, except that in the bor- 
oughs of Richmond and Queens, there 
shall be paid on the first day of 

June in each year to the treasurers of the 
several volunteer fire companies, by the 
comptroller of the City of New York the 
following sums: To the treasurer of an en- 
gine company or chemical engine company 
twelve hundred dollars, to the treasurer of 
a hook and ladder company ten hundred 
dollars, to the treasurer of a hose company 
eight hundred dollars, and to the treasurer 
of a patrol company eight hundred dollars 
and to the treasurer of each newly organized 
engine company, chemical engine company, 
hook and ladder company, hose company or 
patrol company in the boroughs of Rich- 
mond and Queens, whose certificate of in- 
corporation has been approved by the fire 
commissioner and mayor, a pro rata share 
of the annual appropriation granted to such 
company by the provisions of this act, from 
the date of such approval until th e follow- 
ing first day of June. 

Whenever hereafter the paid fire depart- 
ment shall be extended into any part of 
the territory of the city of New York, as 
hereby constituted, in which now or here- 
after there shall exist a volunteer fire de- 
partment, such members of said volunteer 
firo department in said locality as may te 
in active service shall, upon their passing 
a non-competitive examination for fitness, 
the conditions of which shall first be ap- 
proved by the fire commissioner as pre- 
scribed by the municipal civil service com- 
mission rules, notice of which examination 
shall have been previously given by publi- 
cation in the official papers of the borough 
In which the extension is proposed, be 
piaced at the head of any eligible list certi- 
fied for appointment and be preferred for 
appointment as firemen in the paid depart- 
ment, and the volunteer benevolent asso- 


192 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


ciation existing within said territory shall 
possess all the privileges, and be entitled 
to all the rights now conferred by law upon 
such associations. The board of estimate 
and apportionment may, in its discretion, 
appropriate such sum of money as they may 
deem necessary for the purchase of ap- 
paratus for the use of the several volunteer 
companies in the boroughs of Richmond and 
Queens, and for the maintenance of the fire 
alarm system in such boroughs. The certifi- 
cate of incorporation of any new volunteer 
fire company of the City of New York shall, 
in addition to the requirements therefore 
provided in the general laws of the state, 
also require the approval of the fire com- 
missioner. 

CHAPTER 732. 

CREATING THE OFFICE OF CHIEF 
LINEMAN IN THE POLICE DE- 
PARTMENT. 

Chief lineman; compensation. 

Sec. 276a. There is created in the tele- 
graph force of the police department an offi- 
cer to be known as chief lineman or foreman 
of construction of telegraph, to be selected 
from among the members of the uniform 
force of roundsman, patrolman or doorman 
and lineman, who were serving in that ca- 
pacity on January first, eighteen hundred and 
ninety-eight, said chief lineman or foreman 
of construction to be selected and appointed 
after an open and competitive examination 
as required by section three hundred and four 
of the Greater New York charter, and shall 
be subject to all rules and regulations gov- 
erning the other members of the force, and 
shall be entitled to all benefits and privi- 
leges heretofore extended to each member of 
the force with regard to a pension, and shall 
not be removed or dismissed except in the 
manner prescribed for other members of the 
force, and the time now served in said force 
as far as relates to a pension shall count and 
continue as chief lineman or foreman of 
construction. The salary of chief lineman 
shall not be less than twelve hundred dol- 
lars nor exceed fifteen hundred dollars per 
annum. 

CHAPTER 736. 

RELATIVE TO ADDITIONAL ALLOW- 
ANCE TO COMMISSIONERS IN CON- 
DEMNATION PROCEEDINGS. 

The People of the State of New York, rep- 
resented in Senate and Assembly, do enact 
as follows: 

Section 1. Section nine hundred and ninety- 
eight of the Greater New York charter, be- 
ing chapter three hundred and seventy-eight 
of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- 
seven, as amended by chapter four hundred 
and sixty-six of the laws of nineteen hun- 
dred and one, as amended by chap- 
ter five hundred and thirty-six of the laws 
of nineteen hundred and three, is hereby 
amended so as to read as follows: 

Sec. 998. Except as hereinbefore other- 
wise provided, no costs or charges of the 
said commissioners, or others, shall be paid 
pr allowed for any service performed under 
this title, unless the same shall be taxed 
by the said court after notice given as pro- 
vided in the following section. Under such 
taxation, due proof of the nature and extent 
of the services rendered and disbursements 
charged shall be furnished and no unneces- 
sary costs shall be allowed. Each of the 
commissioners of estimate and assessment 
shall receive ten dollars for each day upon 
which he attends a meeting of the said 
commissioners and is actually and neces- 
sarily employed in the performance of the 


duties imposed upon them by this act, at 
the offices provided for said commissioners 
by the bureau of street openings in the law 
department, or at a meeting of the commis- 
sioners to view the premises. All such costs, 
fees and expenses or disbursements, which 
by law are required to be taxed as in this 
chapter provided, shall be stated in detail 
in the bill of costs and charges and ex- 
penses, and shall be accompanied by such 
proof of the reasonableness and necessity 
thereof, as is now required by law and the 
practice of the said court upon taxation of 
costs and disbursements in other special 
proceedings or actions in said court. 

Provided however that in any proceedings 
instituted pursuant to the provisions of this 
title or pursuant to the provisions of any 
other act or law providing for the acquisi- 
tion of property for any public purpose, in 
the City of New York, which is of a difficult 
or unusual character, the court may upon 
taxing the costs and expenses of commis- 
sioners, make such additional allowances to 
any or all of said commissioners as may to 
it appear just and equitable, upon such proof 
as may be submitted concerning the nature 
and extent of the services thus rendered by 
the commissioners; such extra allowances 
not, however, in any instance to exceed the 
aggregate per diem compensation herein- 
above provided for. 

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect immedi- 
ately and shall apply to and affect any and 
all proceedings now, hereafter or heretofore 
pending. 

CHAPTER 740. 

RELATIVE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF 
DOCKS AND FERRIES. 
Acquirement of certain wharf prop- 
erty on East river. 

Sec. 823b. In all proceedings hereafter 
taken by the commissioner of docks 
of the City of New York, for the ac- 
quirement of wharf property, rights, terms, 
easements or privileges, or lands under wa- 
ter and uplands in the City of New York, if 
said wharf property or lands under water, or 
wharf property to which said rights, terms, 
easements or privileges are appurtenant, is 
or are. situated south or west of the souther- 
ly side of Montgomery street, upon or adja- 
cent to the East river in the borough of 
Manhattan, City of New York, it shall not be 
necessary for the said commissioner of docks 
to make any attempt to agree with the own- 
ers of any such property. rights, terms, 
easements, privileges, uplands or lands un- 
der water, upon a price for the same, be- 
fore commencing the proceedings authorized 
by section eight hundred and twenty-two of 
this act. In a proceeding hereafter brought 
for the acquirement of any such wharf prop- 
erty, rights, terms, easements or privileges, 
or uplands, or lands under water situate, as 
in this section set forth, if the commission- 
ers of sinking fund shall by resolution so 
direct the title to the said wharf property, 
uplands, and lands under water, rights, 
terms, easements and privileges shall vest in 
the City of New York at such time as said 
resolution shall direct after the filing in the 
office of the clerk of the supreme court, in 
the first judicial district, of the oaths of 
the commissioners of estimate and assess- 
ment in said proceeding appointed, 
and all of the rights, title and inter- 
est of any and all of the owners or per- 
sons interested in the said wharf property, 
rights, terms, easements and privileges or 
lands under water or uplands, shall cease 
and determine and be extinguished at such 
time; provided, however, that thirty days! 


after the title to such wharf property, rights, 
terms, easements or privileges or uplands or 
lands under water shall so vest in the City 
of New York, there shall become due and 
payable to the owner or owners thereof, sub- 
ject to all existing liens and incumbrances 
on account of the awards which shall there- 
after be made in such proceeding for the 
value of the property so acquired by the 
city, or interest so extinguished, 60 per 
centum of the assessed valuation of such 
property, as shown upon the annual record 
of the assessed valuation of real and per- 
sonal estate kept by the department of taxes 
and assessments of the City of New York. 
It shall be the duty of the commissioners of 
the sinking fund to recommend and for the 
beard of estimate and apportionment to au- 
thorize the comptroller to issue corporate 
stock of the City of New York as is pro- 
vided by section one hundred and eighty 
of title two of chapter six of this 
act, in an amount sufficient to pay to such 
owners the 60 per centum of the assessed 
valuation of such wharf property, rights, 
terms, easements or privileges, or uplands 
or lands under water taken for and on ac- 
count of the award thereon, thereafter to be 
made, and it shall be the duty of the Board 
of Docks to make requisition for such pay- 
ment and of the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund to specify that such sale of cor- 
porate stock shall be so applied and for the 
comptroller to dyawoutand pay such sixty per 
centum to the owners as aforesaid, and there 
shall be included in the awards thereafter 
made in such proceeding, as compensation 
for the property so taken or acquired or in- 
terest extinguished, interest at the legal rate 
upon the sum or sums so awarded in excess 
of such sixty per centum of the assessed valu- 
ation of such property, and upon said sixty 
per centum from the date of the vesting of 
title in the City of New York to the date of 
payment therefor. 

CHAPTER 741. 

RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF 
DOCKS AND FERRIES. 

Section 817. All the powers and duties 
heretofore vested in and devolved upon the 
department of docks of the mayor, aider- 
men and commonalty of the City of New 
York, are devolved upon and vested in the 
department of docks and ferries hereby 
created and in addition thereto the powers 
and duties of said department are hereby ex- 
tended so as to include all the water) front, 
wharf property, lands under water, wharves, 
piers, bulkheads and structures thereon, 
situate within the County of Kings, the 
County of Richmond and the County of 
Queens; and the said commissioner of docks 
shall have power by and with the approval 
of the commissioners of the sinking fund, 
to adopt and execute a plan or plans for 
the water front of the City of New York, as 
constituted by this act, and to fix and es- 
tablish the line of solid filling, bulkheads 
and pier head lines, the distance between 
piers, method and character of construction 
of wharfves and piers within the entire ter- 
ritory of the City of New York, as consti- 
tuted by this act. 

Sec. 2. Section eight hundred and eighteen 
of the Greater New York charter is hereby 
amended so as to read as follows; 

Sec. 818. The commissioner of docks shall 
have exclusive charfee and control subject in 
the particulars thereinafter mentioned to the 
commissioners of the sinking fund, of the 
wharf property belonging to the corporation 
of the City of New York, as constituted by 


AMENDMENTS TO THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, 1904. 


193 


this act, including all the wharves, piers, 
bulkheads and structures thereon, and water 
adjacent thereto, and all the slips, basins, 
docks, w’ater fronts, lands under water and 
structures ther.eon and the appurtenances, 
easements, uses, reversions and rights be- 
longing thereto which are now owned or 
possessed by the said corporation, or to 
which said corporation is, or may become 
entitled, or which said corporation may ac- 
quire under the provisions hereof, or other- 
wise, and said commissioner shall have ex- 
clusive charge and contrlol of the repairing, 
building, rebuilding, maintaining, altering, 
strengthening, leasing and protecting said 
property, and every part thereof and of all 
the cleaning, dredging and deepening neces- 
sary in and about the same. Said commis- 
sioner is also hereby invested, except as 
expressly otherwise stated in this act, with 
the exclusive government and regulation of 
all wharf property, wharves, piers, bulk- 
heads and structures thereon, and waters 
adjacent thereto, and all the basins, slips, 
and docks, with the land under water in said 
city not owned by the said corporation. The 
commissioner of docks shall not have power 
to change the exterior line of piers and 
bulkheads, established by law, except by the 
adoption of a plan or plans for the improve- 
ment of the w'ater front of the City of New 
York as herein constituted, by and w T ith the 
approval of the commissioners of the sink- 
ing fund. The commissioner of docks shall 
also have exclusive charge and control, sub- 
ject in the particulars hereinafter men- 
tioned to the commissioners of the sinking 
fund, of all ferries and ferry property be- 
longing to the corporation of the City of 


New York, as hereby constituted. The said 
commissioner is hereby empowered, when 
the approval of the commissioners of the 
sinking fund shall have been obtained, to 
establish from time to time new feflries, the 
franchises of which may be leased in the 
manner^ now provided by law. 

CHAPTER 756. 

IN RELATION TO THE FIRE DEPART- 
MENT. 

Fire commissioner, salary: deputies, 

salaries. 

Sec. 720. The head of the fire de- 
partment shall be called the fire commis- 
sioner. He shall be appointed by the 
mayor, and hold his office as provided in 
chapter four of this act. The salary of the 
fire commissioner shall be seven thousand 
five hundred dollars a year. Such com- 
missioner shall have power to appoint and 
at pleasure remove two deputy commission- 
ers. The commissioner may designate in 
writing, to be filed in the offices of the 
mayor and comptroller, one of the deputy 
commissioners as authorized to perform all 
the duties and exercise all the powers of 
the commissioner except the appointment to 
or promotion, detail or dismissal of any 
member of the uniformed force, and in like 
manner may designate a clerk or chief of a 
bureau, to sign warrants and perform such 
other duties incidental thereto, as may be' 
required during the absence, by illness or 
otherwise, of the said commissioner, and for 
a period of time to be designated in said 
notice. The salary of each of such deputy 
commissioners shall be five thousand dol- 
lars a year. 


Office in the borough of Brooklyn, 

Sec. 721. The fire commissioner shall dele- 
gate one of the said deputy commissioners to 
sit at the office of the fire department in the 
borough of Brooklyn, through whom such 
business, duties and powers of the fire de- 
partment in the boroughs of Brooklyn and 
Queens shall be conducted, performed and 
exercised, as may be directed by the fire 
commissioner. 

CHAPTER 757. 

RELATIVE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF 

TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS AND THE 
COMPOSITION OF THE BOARD 
OF TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS. 

Sec. 885. The head of the department of 
taxes and assessments shall be called the 
board of taxes and assessments. Said board 
shall consist of a president, who shall be 
designated in his appointment, and (four) six 
other persons, one of whom at least shall 
be a person learned in the law, who shall be 
called commissioners of taxes and assess- 
ments. The salary of the president shall 
be eight thousand dollars a year, and the 
salary of each of the other commissioners 
seven thousand dollars a year. Not more 
than five of the said commissioners, including 
the said president, shall belong to the same 
political party and have the same political 
opinions on state and national issues. 

The said president shall be a resident of 
the borough of Manhattan, and not more 
than one of said commissioners, belonging 
to the same political party and having the 
same political opinions on state and national 
issues, may be residents of the same bor- 
ough, except of the borough of Manhattan. 


INDEX TO 

AMENDMENTS OF 1904. 


Abandonment proceedings, new security in, 

chapter 532 156 

Aldermen, powers of. Chapter 409 184 

Bastard children, support of. Chapter 362 182 
Board of Taxes and Assessments; its com- 
position. Chapter 757 193 

Buildings in city. Chapter 602 187 

Cessions of streets. Chapter 370 183 

Chamberlain, powers of. Chapter 343 181 

Chaplains of Fire Department. Chapter 684 191 

City Record, Board of. Chapter 457 185 

Collection of installments of assessments for 

local improvements. Chapter 71. 181 

Condemnation proceedings, allowance to com- 
missioners. Chapter 736 192 

Criminals, classification and instruction of. 

Chapter 627 189 

Deeds, Commissioner of. Cnapter 413 184 


Docks and ferries. Chapter 455 185 

Docks and ferries. Chapter 740 192 

Docks and ferries. Chapter 741 192 

Education, powers of Board of. Chapter 542 186 

Fire Commissioner's salary. Chapter 756 193 

Fire Department, uniformed force of. Chap- 
ter 683 191 

Jewish Protectory and Aid Society. Chap- 
ter 250 181 

Lineman, Chief in Police Department. Chap- 
ter 732 192 

Litigation, appearance of corporation counsel 

in. Chapter 396 183 

Local improvements, assessments. Chapter 597 186 

Ordinances, code of. Chapter 828 189 

Pension fund, police. Chapter 512 185 

Pension fund, police. Chapter 626 187 

Personal taxes, delinquent. Chapter 624 187 


Playgrounds and Board of Estimate. Chap- 
ter 676 190 

Police Department. Chapter 358 182 

Poor, support of (by relatives). Chapter 362 182 
Pretending to be city marshals. Chapter 369 183 
Qualifications of patrolmen and firemen. 

Chapter 599 187 

Relief fund, share in. Chapter 399 183 

Relief fund. Fire Department. Chapter 597 186 

Remedies limited. Chapter 90 181 

Sale of corporate stock. Chapter 274 181 

Seal of Board of Taxes and Assessments. 

Chapter 375 183 

Taking of testimony by comptroller. Chap- 
ter 247 182 

Trials and charges against police. Chapter 

341 182 

Volunteer Fire Department. Chapter 700.. 191 















































































































































































































































































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countries . Circulars and booklets of resorts given upon request. Time 
tables of railroads and steamboats are distributed; catalogues of schools 
and colleges are kept for use of the public. 





The location of these Bureaus is: 

Eagle Building, Washington Street, 

1,248 Bedford Avenue 

437 Fifth Avenue 

44 Broadway 

154 Greenpoint Avenue 

1,024 Gates Avenue 

2,511 Atlantic Avenue 

801 Flatbush Avenue 

Tloom 25, World Building ) 

26 East Twenty-third Street ( 

608 1 4th Street, Washington, D. C. 

53 c Rue Cambon. Farts., France 


) Brooklyn- New York City 

cManhattan • New York City 

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